Devil in the Dark
by Belasi
Summary: Formerly titled 'Harmony'. The Shinoa Squad (excluding Narumi, including Mirai) started travelling in order to turn Mika back into a human. They come across a society where human and vampires coexist peacefully. But the wheels of time keep turning. The teenagers have to decide who their allies are or they might be killed in the upcoming struggle for this world's future. MikaxOC
1. Chapter 1

**Story Note:** After turning Yu back into a full human and saving Mirai Kimizuki, Shinoa, Mitsuba, Yu, Mika, Yoichi, Shiho and Mirai started travelling in order to turn Mika back into a human and look for other human societies, maybe even gaining some allies. They come across a fisherman and his adoptive daughter, a human and a vampire, living in a society where human and vampires peacefully coexist.

But the wheels of time keep turning. The future of humanity is the prize of this game of lies and deceit. The Shinoa Squad has to decide who they stand with, as long as they still have a choice, or they might be killed in the upcoming struggle for the fate of this world.

 **Author's Note:** Hi. I don't know how often I'll update so please bear with me. I highly appreciate any reviews and I take them very seriously, so if you don't like something please just let me know. You can review anytime and to any chapter, even if I haven't updated lately.

* * *

The sky had turned a fiery red and looked like it was bleeding. In a small house near the ocean a family started settling down for dinner. This family was rather small, for it only consisted of a fisherman and his adopted daughter. The man was setting the table while his daughter cleaned out two of the fish they had caught today.

The girl was a fairly good cook even though she was a vampire and couldn't digest anything but blood. But the least she could do was to make sure that her dad ate properly. She felt like she owed it to him and her late adoptive mother to take care of him as they had done for her.

Just as she was setting the fish into the frying pan and choosing the seasoning she heard someone knocking on their door. That by itself wasn't very unusual. From time to time some of their neighbors came to get some fresh fish. Even so ... it was a bit late for visitors. After all their closest neighbor lived about half an hour away by car and due to the collapse of modern civilization most people despised going by car since it needed fuel, which was quite expensive.

Blood, a scent that accompanied vampires wherever they went. It cut through the clean sea-air and the vampire girl immediately realized that these visitors were strangers and on top of that dangerous ones!

Fearing for her dad's live she raced into the living room, where she pulled the older man behind her and snarled at the teenagers: "Don't you dare to hurt my daddy!"

Soon her blood red eyes found the red eyes of a blond boy and if looks could kill he would be dead ... well, more dead than he was anyway.

They were surprised, of course, and the blond moved to shield a black haired boy that looked very much like him. To defuse the situation the fisherman hugged his adoptive daughter from behind with one arm and ruffled her long dark pink hair with his other, while chiding her: "Now, now, Luna where are your manners? They are guests. And the vampire boy has his own family, don't you see? I guess I'll have to apologize on my daughter's behalf. We don't get that many strangers. Luna, apologize."

But the girl just grimaced. First of all, she didn't like to be ordered around like a stubborn child and secondly ... whatever.

She pushed the man's arm away with the words: "The fish are burning."

After she had vanished in the kitchen she felt a bit guilty about the way she had acted and called out: "Are you staying for dinner?"

The fisherman introduced them as Jiahao Wang and Luna Wang, adoptive father and daughter respectively, and invited the travelling teenagers for dinner too, which they accepted. Then they worked all together to move the furniture so that everyone could sit at the same table. After they had done that everyone but one of the boys sat down and started talking with the grown-up man about well ... actually everything. From why they were travelling and where they came from to what this region of earth is like and how the vampires here behaved.

Yoichi, the short brown haired boy who hadn't sat down, felt bad about leaving one girl to cook for them all so he went into the kitchen to see if she could use another hand.

"Sure. Could you watch the fire and pour more water into the pot, if needed." Luna set their fish into the pan.

Then she remembered that she hadn't really asked his name. "What's your name?"

"S-saotome. Saotome Yoichi."

"Hello Yoichi. I'm Luna but my dad said so anyway. Uhm, I am ... sorry for, you know, earlier."

Yoichi smiled a bit. "It's alright. We all have family to protect and we probably would have reacted the same way. And Luna, Mika isn't a bad guy and he is family to us. He won't hurt your father."

Luna flinched. Had it been so obvious that she was still dwelling on the way she treaded the blond or could this boy read her thoughts? Actually she was embarrassed and revolted by her own actions. How could someone who was promoting peace and friendship between vampires and humans not suppress her instinct to see vampires as a threat to her precious people?

"I... I know ... but... it's just that...," she stuttered. Trying to sort her thoughts Luna shook her head. No, it was her fault!

"I will apologize later," the girl said with determination.

Yoichi smiled. "Ah, that's good! Then all of us can become friends." He seemed oddly happy at this thought.

Luna smiled back at him. When was the last time a complete stranger, moreover a stranger from a place where vampires suppressed humans, wanted to become friends with a vampire? A corner of Luna's mouth shot up and looking into the window glass she saw her reflection. Her face had been caught in something between a smirk and a smile.

"Are you okay?" Yoichi asked and when Luna turned around she had a true smile on her face.

"Yeah!"

Dinner could have been better. Apparently Luna wasn't the only overprotective one here and Mikaela glared at her non-stop. When the human guests praised the meal she thanked them happily. While everyone else was eating Luna busied herself by carving.

She had always admired her foster mother, who was very talented when it came to art. But anytime her husband or Luna tried to convince her to show her intricate flower crowns or stunning drawings at an exhibition she always laughed it off and gave it to a neighbor or sold it for little money to a tourist. Luna herself was hopeless when it came to drawing and she didn't really have the patience to practice. 'It isn't useful enough,' she had said. 'I'd rather see mom's pictures.'

Carving wood was more her thing. After all you can make more than useless decorations, like fishhooks, knife handles and other things. Though, right now she was working on a kitten for one of the children in the City. Even eight years after the virus things hadn't returned to normal and many non-essential things like toys and such had to be made by hand.

The others were talking about what happened in Japan. Luna tried to ignore her growing displeasure at how Krul had handled the situation. No wonder the humans were rebelling and running away at the first chance they get! Humans aren't things. Humans aren't animals.

She ran her hand over the kitten's smooth wooden body. Yes, there was no place she'd be rather at than here. There were not so many vampires around and they didn't get as much blood as they would have liked, but the humans were thriving. Soon the oldest ones would become adults and have children of their own. Luna had done the math eight years ago. The vampire-to-human-ratio was balanced in a way that nobody had to suffer. And because of that, there might not be as many vampires around, but they were accepted as family and friends

When everyone was finished eating Luna got up to take the plates to the sink, but Yoichi stopped her: "Please let us do the washing up."

"Don't worry. I can handle it," the girl said smiling. The humans had stuffed themselves and she was a little bit worried that they might get sick

"No. You have been very kind to us so please let us do this."

Well, if they want to so badly. "Thank you."

And that's why Yoichi, Yuichiro and Mikaela stood in the kitchen while Shiho and Mitsuba build their tents. Luna sat on the couch they had pulled to the table with a sleeping Mirai's head on her lap and tried to ignore the fact that Shiho, whenever he could, was looking through the window to check on his sister. The vampire played a little bit with the redhead's long hair like she had done it with her sister's so long ago. What wouldn't she give for making her young sister love her again?

Jiahao Wang was talking to Shinoa about the vampires in this region and how it happened that they had a good relationship with the local vampires.

"So that progenitor brought you here and told you how to live?"

Jiahao stroked his chin. He did so whenever he had to think about something carefully. "Well, no. Not exactly. You see he got all of us together and explained most of what happened. And then he made us realized each other's needs and supervised the process of forming a government and laws. And one day he simply vanished."

"I guess you were lucky to find a vampire who cared for humans too," Shinoa told him.

Caring, huh? Luna brushed a few strands out of Mirai's face. Deep in thought she leaned back until her head hung at a for humans uncomfortable angle. So they considered it to be 'caring' not to kill them, to save them and most of all not to suppress them and let them make their own choices. Was that all? Those were just logical choices the vampires made. What about feelings or morals? Luna's face had lost its soft expression. Now it was cold like any other vampires and out of the corners of her eyes she saw the doubtful look Shinoa gave her. Did the squad leader think she'd hurt them just because she was a vampire and they were humans? There was no way Luna would start a fight in the house of the family that offered her a home and, most important of all, food.

The three boys came back from the kitchen Yuichiro put a hand on his blond brother's shoulder. What he said would have been too quiet for a human to hear, but Luna was no human.

"Come on Mika. Ask them."

Mikaela just looked at his brother with an expressionless face. He must be one hell of a poker-player, Luna thought.

Then he asked Jiahao: "Do you have any scientific books about vampires or how to turn them back into humans again?"

Again the old man stroked his chin. "Hm. We have one or two books on vampires. You can read Latin, can't you?" When Mikaela nodded he continued: "But I'm not sure if there is anything written about turning vampires back into humans."

As the two men stood before the bookshelves Luna got lost in her thoughts. Everything she knew about her kind and their origins had made her believe that no vampire could become human again. Giving up ones humanity was the price one had to pay for power and immortality. But what if these humans found a way to reverse this process? The consequences it had for the vampire society were unimaginable.

Then Yuichiro startled her by taking a chair and sitting on it propping himself up on his elbows against the backrest. "Ah, I'm sorry," he said at her mildly annoyed look. Then he just sat there looking around and Luna felt his eyes lingering on her more often.

"What is it?" she asked.

"Well …," he squinted. "Have we met before?"

Luna tilted her head. "I don't think so. I haven't been to Japan in a hundred and fifty years."

"I see. I just thought … why does Asuramaru call you 'soror'? What does that mean anyway?"

Luna felt like her stomach was flailing around like a fish out in the air. She struggled for composure and hoped that the visitors wouldn't notice. Was it possible that the demon in Yu's weapon was her precious person? She'd probably have to fight him to find out. The vampire gave a sidelong glance at Yu's weapon in the corner of the room. If Asherah could have chosen in which type of weapon he would be sealed in he would have chosen a katana.

 _Are you there, Asherah, my little warrior?_

A book fell with a loud 'boom' on the table. It was big and its leather cover and yellowish pages made it look like it was very ancient. "Watch the book! It's older than all humans in this house together!" Luna scolded the younger vampire, but he just gave her his signature cold look before opening it.

Yuichiro immediately stood up and looked over his brother's shoulder, only to squint and complain: "I can't read anything of this."

Shinoa, Jiahao and Luna chuckled and the vampire swore Mikaela was cracking a tiny smile. Then the blond vampire searched for a specific page and started reading. Shiho, Mitsuba and Yoichi came back inside to declare the tents ready for moving in. Luna hadn't noticed Yoichi leaving to help his friends. Her age must be getting to her or it was simply her getting tired.

Mikaela scowled and Yuichiro understood his thoughts like only a true brother can. "Don't worry. We'll just keep looking. Do know where we can find a person who knows more about vampires than what is written in this book?" he asked the locals.

The fisherman shot a look at his adoptive daughter but the vampire shook her head. "I have no idea how to turn a vampire back. Maybe Yue knows something. She is the librarian of the City. But currently she is traveling around and nobody would dare to take a book as long as she isn't there."

There were a few other options Luna could think of to gather information on this particular topic by using her influence with other vampires, but for now she would keep silent about that. Luna liked to keep her cards close.

"If you want you can stay with us until she is back," Jiahao added to his daughter's explanation. "She should be back in two weeks' time."

The teenagers looked at each other. And then Shinoa asked: "Can we tell you our decision tomorrow?"

"Sure," the older man smiled. "Breakfast is at eight o'clock and we'll go fishing after that." With a glance at the still sleeping Mirai he added: "And now you kids should go to sleep. Sleep is important for growth after all."

Shiho had just picked up his younger sister when Yuichiro teased Shinoa: "Say, Shinoa. Is that the reason why you stayed so small?"

The lavender haired girl turned around with a twitching eyebrow. "Did you say something Yu?"

Then Shiho warned Yuichiro: "Hey Yu, cut it out. Remember what happened before Shinjuku."

Mitsuba was getting impatient. She shoved Shinoa and Yuichiro outside. "Get a move on, you slowpokes! You can squabble about that tomorrow!"

"Waah~, Mitsu is grumpy when she's sleepy~," Shinoa sang.

After them Yoichi, Shiho and Mika said good night and walked out. "They are a really lively bunch," Jiahao happily said and hugged his daughter with one arm.

She smiled in agreement. But looking at her dad's face made her regret what happened and she cursed her own inability to stop the virus-outbreak from happening. Her dad shouldn't have to lead such a solitary life! Right now she would give anything for his wife to be with them. She also would have loved these teenagers.

Then she remembered. She hadn't even yet apologized to Mikaela for treating him like he was her mortal enemy! Luna swiftly pushed the man's arm away and ran outside.

"Mikaela, please wait for a second!"

The male vampire turned around at looked at her with cold red eyes.

"I just wanted to say that I'm sorry for the way I behaved. It wasn't fair of me to judge you simply based on the fact that you are a vampire. I am sorry." Although her cheeks were a little bit red, Luna's gaze never wavered.

For a second Mikaela looked surprised but when the offered him her hand in reconciliation he shook it.

"Have a good night, Mikaela."

And then he said softly: "You too."

Walking back inside Luna found a tiny red unblinking star in the sky. Well, actually it was a planet she came to associate with her biological father. Her face turned into a cruel mask complete with an eerie smirk. 'And what do you think now? You were wrong, oh so wrong, about everything! Humans and vampires can live together. I will prove it and make clear once and for all that I am not a piece in your games!'

* * *

 _Almost two thousand years a baby was left on a temple's doorsteps in a village belonging to the Roman Empire. That very small temple had been dedicated to Mars, god of war and agriculture. At first the priests weren't very happy about this matter._

 _"This is a temple and not an orphanage. And besides, while Mars does protect the people, he does not take responsibility for every child. Such is Juno's holy duty."_

 _There was a temple of Juno in a neighboring village just a day away. But the child already smelled and a priest took pity on her. It would be very inhumane not to tend to its needs for a day and he took it to his brother's home, where he discovered two things: This was a girl and she had red eyes and reddish purple hair._

 _Red was Mars signature color. The color of blood, spilled in war. The color of fire, that warmed every families home. And purple was the color only the Emperors were meant to wear. He took her back to his fellow priests and his conclusion was that this girl was a daughter of Mars, maybe even of Mars and Venus (who was married to the god Vulcan, the reason why her parents had to abandon her). The other priests were doubtful and decided to write to the main temple of Mars in Rome. Until they had their answer the girl would remain with the brother and sister-in-law of that one priest._

 _Six years went by and the girl flourished in the care of these farmers. She became stronger and faster than a human, which wasn't very surprising since was a demigod (or perhaps even a goddess). After she saved her playmates from a bear, the village came to terms with her rather unusual nourishment. After all if she took blood from a different person on each day the burden it placed on their bodies wasn't much. But then a message came from the main temple. It said that "the King of the Night" claimed to be her father and he would come to get her._

 _The farmers cried a lot, since they could not stand against a royal's wish._

 _"If I don't like him I will beat him up," the girl declared to cheer her foster parents up._

 _But they franticly tried to get these ideas out of her head. "No, no, no! You can't do that! You are Mars' daughter! Promise me that you will only use your powers for protection!"_

 _A month later the dreaded carriage arrived and when a man stepped outside the whole village was ready to believe that he was the child's father, Mars himself. He was tall and handsome with messy blood red hair and he had the same red eyes as the girl. He crouched down._

 _"Filia mea te saluto. I've been looking for you."_

 _His mouth formed a smile, but his eyes didn't. The girl didn't notice it anyway. She was completely mesmerized by the two canines. Just like hers, they were longer and sharper than a regular human's teeth. There was no denying that they were family._

 _Mars's smile faltered when two tears ran down her cheeks. One tear was because of her sadness. These people had been her family for as long as she could remember and now she had to leave them … forever. The other tear was a happy tear. Finally she had found her true origins and a place to belong, someone who would accept her and teach her._

 _She had come home._

* * *

Based on the size of Mika's bloodflasks (chapter 11 or episode 9), the guess that one glass equals one day's worth of blood and my chemistry knowledge (the bloodflasks actually resemble a test tube used in chemistry very closely) I guessed that a vampire would need 20 mL of blood per day (but they can drink more or go one or two days without any blood). That means they drink 7.305L per year! An average healthy human can donate blood 5 times a year each time 450mL (= 2.250L per year). Based on that, it apparently takes about 3-4 humans per vampire for the vampire not to starve and the humans not to die of blood loss.


	2. Chapter 2

While travelling with his new family Mika had quickly found out that he could go longer without blood if he slept. Normally he did sleep unless it was his turn at keeping watch. But last evening Shinoa had suggested to all of them that nobody would keep watch since the locals seemed friendly and they hadn't discovered any evidence of Horsemen.

Mika didn't trust this peace. In his opinion all humans were too trusting. Who knows how strong this vampire was and why she and her father were living alone out here? In order not to worry his always worrying brother he lay down as if to sleep. But Mika wouldn't be sleeping, oh no, he would be keeping watch! They wouldn't be catching him unaware.

Nothing moved until it was almost sunrise. Even through the tent's fabric Mika noticed the sky lighting up. Then he heard how the door to the house was being opened. Someone stepped outside and stalked off. It has to be the vampire! The fisherman wouldn't be able to step so softly.

Mika considered his options. If he followed her and found her calling her vampire friends to attack his family then he could be back to warn them. And if she was just taking a stroll or minding his own business then at worst he would be labeled a stalker and frankly Mika could live with that. His family shouldn't be in danger all alone. After all, the vampire wouldn't leave her food source if she wasn't certain that the man was safe.

Silently Mika got up and left the small tent he shared with Yu. He could still hear the girl's steps, especially now that she ran faster and thought herself to be unnoticed. With his sword hanging on his belt Mika followed her into the woods. With all the leaves, twigs and branches it was easy to follow her from sound alone. Soon Mika had to realize that he couldn't keep up with her. There was no indication that he had been spotted, so it looked like this was her normal running speed. Could it be that this strange vampire was stronger than him?

Slowly her steps faded and Mika found himself all alone in a strange forest. Normally he would have welcomed the silence. This was what he had always wished for: running away with his family to a place where neither vampires nor greedy humans would ever find them. But now he was slowly starting to panic. What if the vampire doubled back? Had she just lured him out here to get him lost? Right now he couldn't protect his family from her!

No, he had to calm down! She was running straight ahead and she had to be back at eight o'clock. As long as she didn't turn right or left their paths would cross again. Mika decided to run straight ahead for ten more minutes. If he didn't find her until then he would turn back.

Suddenly he heard heavy steps as if someone was fighting and the familiar sound of a blade hissing through the air. As silently and stealthily as possibly Mika continued on. Thanks to his vampire senses he could see a medium sized clearing which looked like it once could have been a resting stop next to a highway. The concrete was cracked and moss and grass already reconquered the territory. In the middle of this post-apocalyptic landscape the vampire girl stood wielding a basket-hilted sword.

She trained standard moves for this type of sword and Mika could clearly see she was well versed in the art of sword-fighting. Her slashes and stabs were precise and swift and had little wasted movement. After trying some combinations she stopped and looked over to where Mika was standing, well hidden. "I know you're there. You don't need to hide."

Mika placed a hand on the hilt of his sword and stepped into the clearing. "How did you know I was there?"

The girl smiled smugly. "Your hair color isn't exactly camouflage. Why did you follow me?"

The blond vampire didn't answer. When had she noticed him tracking her? Is this a trap?

"Well, it doesn't matter really. Wanna spar?"

"I'll go back." Mika turned around to leave when he heard her complain.

"Why? I bet you're just afraid to lose to a country-pumpkin."

Well, she wasn't exactly wrong (not that Mika wasn't sure of his victory), but since the girl wasn't endangering his family there was no need for him to watch her. And it would take a lot more insults for him to lose his cool.

Then she sighted. The liveliness and mocking tone left her voice. "Okay. I get it. You're trying to protect them. But what if someone more skilled crosses your path, equally powerful but more skilled … what will you do then." She stepped a bit closer. "If you truly want to keep them safe you must be stronger than anything that comes your way, including me. Can you really beat me Mikaela Hyakuya?"

He whirled around his sword ready to attack. "Don't you dare to hurt them!"

Luna shifted into a fencing stance one arm behind her back. "It isn't me you should be worrying about. Unlike most vampires I hate hurting humans."

She struck aiming for his head and Mika quickly parried feeling the power of her hit. It wasn't too powerful. He had to admit, the girl had a point. He could use all the training he could get.

He pushed her away and attacked vertically from above but she parried with his blade close to her hilt. It was similar to the guard Ferid Bathory used. Then Luna stepped back, breaking Mika's balance and swiftly before he could recover her blade was at his jugular vein.

She smiled and stepped back into her starting position. "Try again and aim for my left side. Your right side."

Mika was confused. "I am not going to hold back," he warned her.

"I hope so. I hate people who hold back."

Did she want to get killed? Mika tried to slash her left flank, but she intercepted him again. Only this time the blond took note of how her brows furrowed in concentration and she couldn't make any counter-attacks.

Separating again they traded another bout of blows and Mika exploited her weak left side until Luna finally found a way to guard and counter.

"Are you warmed up now?" What did she mean saying that? Vampires do not need warming up. And her smile resembled Ferid's so much. He would wipe it off her face, Mika decided and attacked with more strength. Luna countered all of them and slowly Mika felt that he was being pushed back. Gritting his teeth he tried to step up his game but somehow she always matched his strength and speed.

The sun was already rising over the horizon and the blades flashed in the early light. Soon it would be time for them to go back, but Mika was not going to accept defeat. As much as he had hated it the blond had been trained by the strongest vampires in Sanguinem. There was no way he'd go down so easily.

Red vines came from his sword's hilt and wounded his hand. The steely blade turned red tainted by his blood enhancing his own power and speed. He attacked the other vampire whose eyes widened in shock and she barely had time to bring up her own sword. Luna was thrown back and crashed into a tree. Before she had time to react Mika was there holding the tip of his sword against her throat.

The dark pink haired vampire made no move to defend herself. "Are you going to kill me?" She spoke this question as if she was asking him for the way to the next grocery store.

"No." Mika beat her. This vampire was no danger to him anymore. Though his personal motto was 'no mercy to vampires or humans' the others most likely wouldn't like him killing their host. He sheathed his sword.

The girl laughed. "Am I glad! I like this life quite a bit!" Standing up she continued talking. "What a surprise! I guess people who truly fought for their life are something else. Or maybe I am just getting rusty. That was fun!"

"Are you somehow related to Ferid Bathory?" Mika wanted to know.

"I guess. If we were humans he would be my cousin … I think. Relationships in the vampire society are complicated. Why are you asking?"

"Because you are an annoying chatterbox like him."

"Ah, sorry, I'll shut up now. And we have to go back anyway. Care for a race?"

"Are you always this competitive?"

"There isn't a lot of competition here so I've gotta make the most of it."

When they were running back in silence Mika noticed that she took care not to leave him behind. Leaving the forest they were greeted by the morning sun which had just risen over the horizon and flooded everything with soft light making the ocean glow.

Then a horrible smell penetrated the fresh ocean air. "Something is burning." With one giant leap she was at the front door and almost ripped it out of its hinges. Mika slowly followed. If Mitsuba and Shinoa were already awake then the boys must be awake too. On the other hand, why would Kimizuki allow them to cook?

There was some shouting coming from the kitchen.

"What the heck are you doing?"

"We're making breakfast," Mitsuba stated. "Shinoa you can pour in the dough now."

"Okay Mitsu~!"

"No don't!"

A hissing sound and the smell of burnt food told Mika that Luna had come too late. Then Shinoa tried to scrape the results of their failure from the pan. "Ah … It won't come off! Mitsu help!"

"Hey! I have no idea what went wrong either!"

"OUT!" The two human girls were pushed out of the room, the door was slammed behind them and Mika heard a nasty Latin curse from the other side.

"Good morning Mika," the girls said when they noticed him standing there.

"What were you doing?" he wanted to know.

"We were making omelets. And if Shinoa had done everything like I said -"

"You told me to heat the pan and then pour the dough in!"

"But first you have to put some butter or oil in!"

"Oh, I must have overheard that."

Mitsuba sighted resigned. "I am going to wake to others." The blonde girl stalked outside.

Shinoa giggled at her mad friend's antics. "So you were keeping an eye on our hostess?"

Mika nodded. "She is weaker than me."

The purple haired girl laughed at this. "I guess that applies to most of vampire-kind. But it's good to know. I was a bit worried at first." At Mika's questioning look she explained: "Doesn't it seem too perfect? Vampires and humans living in harmony. Whoever governs this place must have a lot influence in the progenitor council, maybe that person is even a second progenitor."

A second progenitor, a monster without comparison. Mika had met one once and in the second he had seen him, the young vampire had known that he was no match for the high-ranking noble. In his time in Sanguinem he had heard some rumors about the first progenitor too. Depending on the rumor's source there were multiple vampires or only one who could claim that title. But all rumors said that they were more powerful than any other vampire. Some compared them to natural disasters; others thought they were more like gods. When Mika had asked Krul Tepes she avoided his questions and gave only nonsensical answers.

"Don't worry Mika," Shinoa encouraged him. The short girl put a hand on her friends shoulder. "Whatever may come, I'm sure we can survive it." Then she called out to the vampire, who holed herself up in the kitchen: "Luna, I'm sorry that messed up! Can I help you with anything else?"

Luna opened the door just wide enough for half of her face to show. Distrustful she looked at Shinoa. "Can you cut up some fruits without cutting yourself?"

"Of course! I can cut them even heart shaped."

The vampire girl cracked a smile. "Cubes would do, thank you. And I'll be watching your every move," she warned.

Despite of Shinoa's and Mitsuba's failure at cooking, everyone had enough omelets. Well, they hadn't wasted a lot of dough anyway. While the humans stuffed themselves at the dinner table, the vampires were sitting on a little couch facing the bookshelves. Luna sat hunched over and had her chin resting on her hands. When Mika sat down she hadn't even blinked.

Mika looked longingly at the lively table. It wasn't just that his need for human food vanished- some immortals in literature had also no need for consuming calories but they still ate for pleasure- but no kind of exquisite dish could wet his appetite. Not sitting with them didn't bother the blond either. Actually he didn't like cramped environments- especially when humans were the most crowding factor- and from their travels the vampire knew that even while being at their side, Mika felt left out.

He was not like them. Although they frequently reassured him of their friendship and didn't seem to be bothered by many of their differences, Mika himself was painfully aware of every little detail ... for example not being able to consume normal food.

After they had assured their hosts that every one of them was able to swim, the locals invited them on their fishing trip. Mika's human family seemed to be quite elated at the thought of swimming in the open sea and snorkeling around a bit, especially Shinoa, who whispered something about 'getting to see some eye-candy' to Mitsuba, who in turn blushed. Their whispers would have stayed a secret if not for Mirai, who apparently didn't know what the term 'eye-candy' meant and decided to ask: "Shiho, what is eye-candy?"

Shiho totally broke. With a deep blush and some stuttering he tried to explain: "Uhm … y-you see …" Then he couldn't take it anymore and shouted at Shinoa: "Don't put these perverted thoughts into her head, Shinoa!"

"Ehh, I don't know what you are talking about."

Luna decided to answer with a serious voice. "Eye candy is something that you like to see, but it's not used to refer to a view, like the view from a mountain or any landscape. It's used when you see attractive people or same people show a little bit more skin than usual."

Mirai seemed to think about what the vampire just said. Yuichiro decided to drink up his water when the younger girl stated with the same innocence as before: "So Shinoa and Mitsu would like to see Yu, Yoichi, Mika and Shiho shirtless."

The effect of her statement was immediate. Yu almost suffocated on the water, Shiho's face became red like his hair, Yoichi, Shinoa and Mitsuba blushed too like idiots. Only Mika stayed unaffected and patted his brother's back.

"Just look at this innocent face! How can you tell her perverted things like that!" Shinoa hugged the redheads little body from behind and Shiho said over Yu's coughing: "Don't play innocent Shinoa. We know who started this!"

* * *

The sun was already high up in the sky when they finally boarded their hosts' fishing ship 'Phoenix'. Jiahao explained that they chose an old sailing boat because they didn't need to fish in an industrial way with big trawl nets and it needed a lot less fuel than a ship without sails. None of the Japanese teenagers had ever been on a sailing ship before. Soon they were exploring it from bow to stern.

As they left the little quay Yu asked the old fisherman if he allowed him to steer the ship for a bit. The man declined: "No offense Yuichiro, but this is a lot more difficult than it looks and you really can't compare it to driving a car."

"Yu, you can't even drive," Shiho remarked. "As far as I can remember you bumped into everything along the road."

"Well, it was my first time driving! I can't be perfect off the bat, right? I'm sure I can drive a lot better now."

"But most beginners do not hit a telephone pole. And how did you get better? You haven't been driving since then."

"That's only because you guys won't let me," Yu complained.

"What are you squabbling about now?" Shinoa asked from behind them. The girls had decided to go and change first. Luckily when they had left Japan they had also made sure to have swimwear with them. Both of the boy's cheeks colored a bit. They weren't used to girls exposing so much skin; after all public pools were non-existent in their post-apocalyptic Japan.

Shiho was the first to recover. He cleared his throat and said: "You're looking good."

Mitsu blushed furiously and asked in her tsundere-way: "W-What do you mean by that?!"

"I said they suit you! Don't interpret what I'm saying in that kind of way!"

And Shinoa decided to bug the other boy: "Are there any pervy thoughts running through Yu's head too?"

"I told you I am not thinking about that kind of stuff!" Shiho shouted at her.

"Nope. I was only worried because if we meet a horseman this two-piece swimsuit is not going to protect you."

Now it was Shinoa's turn to blush. Mika had been keeping himself to the shadows the whole time and faintly smiled at the bickering of his friends.

When they stopped for the first time Luna was the only one who went for a swim. The three older girls were still sunbathing while the boys were applying sunscreen. When the vampire girl came back up she held a giant lobster in her hand. At first it looked dead but when Mitsu touched it, the thing started wriggling and the blonde screamed, fishing the keyform of her weapon out of her bikini top and almost cut Luna's arm off. While Shinoa calmed her friend down and Luna out the still alive lobster into a barrel filled with water, Mika shook his head. Seriously, just where was this blond girl keeping her weapon?

When they stopped again Luna reported that all of the fish traps here had been pillaged by octopuses.

"They are cute," she replied to Shinoa's question to why she wasn't upset. "And they're smart. They can change their skin to look like their surroundings and they can learn too!"

"You could go for a swim, if you want to. I'll need some time to repair these traps," Jiahao suggested and the teenagers happily took him up on that offer.

Like a predator Shinoa slowly approached Shiho and abruptly splashed him. The red-head almost blew steam from his ears and turned around to get revenge on his attacker, but the girl hid swiftly behind Mitsu, pointing at the blond and shouting: "It was her!"

Mitsuba franticly tried to shake Shinoa but Shiho splashed a huge wave at water at the girls. Spluttering Mitsu swore revenge against both Shiho and Shinoa. Since Yu had laughed at Shiho's drenched face he was the next target for the twin sword wielder. Unfortunately the black haired got saltwater into his eyes.

"It hurts you stupid telephone pole," Yu retaliated by splashing water towards the other male's general direction, but couldn't prevent his attack form hitting the girls too. Soon everyone except for Mika had joined the fight and the motto was 'No mercy'.

The battle didn't last for very long, since they got tired very fast. Unlike the humans, who were resting on deck, Luna scurried around looking for the snorkeling gear that should have been on board somewhere.

Soon they set sails again towards their last destination for today. According to the hosts that place had the most diverse and colorful sea life in the vicinity.

Yu sat down next to his brother. "This place is really amazing! I wonder who that 'founder' vampire was. Maybe he could help us in Japan too."

"That's impossible," Mika retorted. "Humans and vampires have been killing each other far too long. There is too much bad blood to forgive everything."

"I don't believe tha-" Yu stopped midsentence when he saw the blond. "Mika, are you okay?" The blond was clutching his elbows and seemed very tense. When Yu looked closer, he could see Mika sweating and his eyes were clouded almost as if he was hungry.

"Do you need to drink?"

The vampire shook his head.

"Don't hold back Mika! It's not like they wouldn't understand," the black-haired urged his brother.

"I said it's not like that! I don't know! It hurts, it hurts so much …"

By now the others had noticed Mika's predicament too and looked worrying if there was anything they could do.

"Mika isn't well," Yu shouted at Jiahao.

The fisherman immediately ran over. Lucky there wasn't much wind blowing so the ship didn't need his full attention. "He has sunlight poisoning. Get some blankets and cold water! Go!"

The teens stormed around like a flock of terrified chicken. Right when Shiho was about to open the door to the lower deck, Luna burst out with a huge mountain of fabric in her arms. Quickly the others took some too and threw them over the cramping vampire.

"Is it better now?" Yu asked his brother who laid under a mountain of cloth drenched in cold water.

Mika said something, but nobody could understand it.

"What was that?" Yu shouted.

Mika managed to clear a little tunnel to his face. "I said: I'm not better because this stuff is almost crushing me!"

"Ah, that's good. This is your punishment for making us worry."

"Did you lose your protective charm somewhere?" Luna asked. It was common knowledge that vampires couldn't survive in the broad daylight without protective gear.

"It broke, but sunscreen works too," Mika replied.

"Sunscreen?"

"It blocks the dangerous ultra-violet wavelengths."

Luna started laughing.

"What's so funny about that?"

She gave a last huff. "Sunscreen … I didn't think it would work."

"Where is your protection charm?" Shinoa asked. "Don't tell me you can walk around without one."

"Oh, no, I have one." Luna showed them a bracelet made up of small glass beads. "I couldn't last a second without it. Actually it gets worse the older you are."

"So you _are_ an old lady," Shinoa said with a teasing voice.

"I am not old. I am wise," the vampire joked back. "But, seriously, are you going to be okay?"

"I will be once I get out of here," Mika hissed. He hated the way the heavy and wet sheets clung to him. "I'll just stay under deck and reapply the sunscreen." The blond started freeing himself.

"Can you walk there or should I carry you?" His brother asked worried.

"Of course I can walk," Mika retorted angrily, but he stumbled and was caught by the black-haired, who put one of Mika's arms around his shoulders. Shiho supported the vampire from the other side. Together the boys dragged the rapidly weakening vampire into the shadows.

"How dare you making us worry like that?" Yu started berating his brother, who tried to ignore him. "Mika-a," the teenager shook the vampire by his shoulders. "Come on! Listen to me!"

"I am listening," Mika snapped back.

"No you are not! You're ignoring me like you did when we were kids!"

"I never ignored you! You ignored me!"

Shiho stopped their argument by slamming the sunscreen-tube on the cabin's table. The other boys gulped. The tall boy gave them the same pointed glare he gave the girls when they tried to touch his cooking utensils. Nobody dared to oppose Shiho when he was in his no-nonsense mode.

"Get yourself together! Yu stop nagging! Mika, next time tell us when you feel ill! And now apply the damned sunscreen." Then he stalked off.

"How does he pull off that look?" Yu wondered. He grabbed the tube and put some sun cream on his hands. "Turn around. I'll do your back."

The vampire complied. "I'm sorry."

"Yeah. Me too. … You know we could ask Luna if she can give us one of those sun-blocking thingies."

"I don't want that."

"Why not, Mika? It's much easier to carry around than this sun lotion and we don't have to worry about replenishments."

"I don't want anything from her," Mika answered. Call it stubbornness, but Mika was used to fend for himself and he was pretty sure that the girl would ask for something in return.

"Asking never hurts." Yu gave his brother a soft slap on his shoulders. "You're done. But it would be really useful."

"And what if the new sun blocking device gets broken one day?"

"Well, we still have some spare sunscreen. Or, I know, maybe Luna could give us a spare!"

"You're putting too much faith into that vampire," Mika said sadly. "You're still too kind."

"So what. Krul helped us too." They thought back to the time when Yuichiro was about to be taken over by some sort of demonic version of himself. The third Progenitor somehow made this personality disappear, although she didn't say how.

Suddenly the door opened and the rest of Shinoa's squad came in.

"Are you still not done? Oh my~, boys take so long getting ready," Shinoa teased them.

"Of course we do. We have to stay healthy and handsome, don't we?" Yu sassed back.

Shinoa blushed. "A-Anyway I found a card game that Guren and I used to play. How about it? You think you can take me on?"

"Anytime Shinoa," stated Yu. "I'll never lose."

However things worked out differently than he had expected and Mika always gave an exasperated sigh when the black haired sword wielder asked another question and showed him his cards. The vampire was torn between helping his brother and letting him fend for himself. It was just a game after all.

But Shinoa didn't fare any better, because Yoichi clearly dominated every game.

"How can you be so damn good at this?" Yu ran his hands through his hair in despair. "This is poker! You need a – you know - a poker face!"

Yoichi gave an embarrassed laugh and Shiho defended the shorter boy: "Don't get so mad at him idiot. It's not Yoichi's fault you suck at this game!"

"I don't suck!" And the squabbling started again.

"Are you alright?" Unnoticed by anyone Luna had come in and watched the commotion with furrowed brows.

"Yes. That happens all the time," Mitsu answered her clearly annoyed by the boys' behavior. "Will you guys cut it out?!"

"He started it," they both said at the same time, but in the end they shut up, since Mitsu and Shinoa were already looming over them ready for giving them a beating.

"Can you play too?" Mirai asked the female vampire who held the queen of spades and looked completely lost in thought.

"Not poker. I really suck at poker. Just 'Schnapsen' or 'Sixty-six' as it was called. My sister taught me. The Queen of Spades was her favorite card and Spades was her favorite suit. I liked Hearts better ..."

"Ah, Mika! Didn't you say you could play this Sixty-six thing too? Why don't you two play one game?" Yoichi asked and the others also were intrigued.

The vampire just shrugged and held his hand out for the Queen of Spades Luna still held. She was still so far gone, she didn't even notice. Then he pried the card from her hands at which she startled and said: "Ah, no we don't have time for this! No, I mean, we are at our last snorkeling stop for today and I don't want to be returning late."

"Aww, come on! It's just one game," Shinoa teased her. "Or are you afraid that Mika will win?"

Luna pressed her lips together and sat down. "I am not."

Mika dealt the cards. They were playing by the Austrian rules for Schnapsen and a twenty card set. Three card for her; three cards for him; one card open on the table. Its suit would become the trump suit. Again two card for her and two for him. They both sorted their cards. Mika had a good hand. He had two tens, the king and queen of the trump suit and a jack. With the card in his hand alone he could get the required sixty-six points for winning.

"Woah, you have a good hand Mika!" Yu exclaimed. Four people shushed him.

Then Luna turned around the card that dictated which suit was the trump suit, a jack, which had laid open on the table and pulled the trump suit's ace from her hand. Had she not closed the stock Mika would have been able to throw out his lone jack, but with the stock closed he had to play a card of the same suit. Frowning he put down the trump queen. This trick was hers. But he still had a trump card and as long as Luna wasn't able to get 66 points it would be his win.

Then she pulled out the trump suit's ten and Shinoa started giggling. Mika shot her an angry look while giving up his trump king. He was still in the game. The blond had to make just one trick and Luna would lose. She laid her second ace on the table and Mika had to give her the ten of the same suit he had.

"I've won," she declared showing them a king and a queen of the same non-trump suite. "With these twenty points I'll have sixty-nine points."

Shinoa laughed and Mika's eyebrow twitched in annoyance.

"Hey! Where did that come from? Did you cheat?" Yu shouted.

"I just had a good hand," Luna replied smugly and watched Mika shuffling the cards. "And what are you up to?"

"I want a rematch."

"Oh, you're on!"

Four games later they were still playing. Because of their pride neither one wanted to admit defeat. Jiahao looked inside the cabin: "Luna, dear, I thought you were going to get them to snorkel. What are you doing?"

His daughter was a bit busy thinking about which card she should use this turn, so Shinoa answered: "They are locked in an epic battle of wits and luck."

The other kids sweat-dropped at Shinoa's description of the game.

"Luna, be the older vampire," the fisherman said.

"I am older, that's a given."

"Then behave like it."

"Like hell I'm going to give up or loose on purpose. That would be so unfair!" Then she placed down one of her two remaining cards and hoped that she could take the last trick.

Mika almost grinned as he showed the other vampire his last card. "The last trick is mine."

"Alright!" Yu cheered. "That's three points for Mika." Now they had the same amount of wins.

"Hah! You just go lucky! It'll be different the next time," Luna smirked.

"That's enough. You can play more at home, but either you're going snorkeling now or we're going home," Jiahao threatened the teenagers.

It worked. Suddenly everyone was moving around, grabbing goggles and other gear. The older man sighted. Kids …

* * *

The two locals really hadn't exaggerated when they'd said that this place was especially beautiful. The boat anchored just next to an underwater reef. Giant boulders overgrown with corals sat on a sandbank and many different kinds of fish darted in-between them. They even saw a turtle, but when Yu wanted to touch it, Shiho held his hand back and shook his head. The red haired teen seemed to know that the turtle might get so scared by a human touching it that it wouldn't come back to the surface to breathe and rather drown than get touched again by a scary human. Mirai seemed to like the clownfish best and Yoichi was totally mesmerized by … a stone? But when Mika looked closer it was actually a well-disguised stonefish. Of all the people Luna – unsurprisingly - seemed to have the least trouble with diving. As a vampire she didn't need to breathe for oxygen and was able to empty her lungs in a way that would allow her to stay underwater without struggling against the buoyancy.

Suddenly Shinoa pointed at something in the open ocean. A giant flat fish came closer. It was black on the top, white on the bottom and literally flew through the water moving its wings up and down. Mika had seen this creature before in one of the documentaries Krul had shown him for his education. A manta ray. But the films hadn't done this creature justice. It was giant, but the way it moved was incredibly elegant. The group of teens watched the ray until it again vanished in the endless blue ocean.

"That was so amazing!" Mitsu's eyes were shining with excitement like all the others. "All these pretty fish!"

"I bet they'd make a good meal."

"You are so mean Yu!"

"So you liked it?" Jiahao asked with a grin on his face.

"Dad!" Luna hugged him as tight as she dared. "Dad we saw a manta ray!"

"Oh you're joking!"

"No! I'm not!"

"Then maybe we should thank your mom for stopping us from fishing here," Jiahao said, smiling gently.


	3. Chapter 3

It had been a week since the soldiers from Japan first arrived at the continent and met the local residents. Since then they had learned a lot about this place and the way of fishing as well as marine life. It was a nice break from the fighting that went on in Japan. But even so they didn't want to lose their edge and trained combat as often as they could, like today. Since Luna and Jiahao still had to go fishing, they left the teenagers with some lunch. Today they had gotten a special treat.

"So ... how does this work?"

The group had decided to take a break from training and was now standing or sitting around a three big green fruit, commonly known as 'watermelons'. Because of their life in the army none of them had ever seen tropical fruit in its natural state. The JIDA preferred to cultivate plants with a higher nutritional value.

"Well, isn't it obvious?" Mitsuba stated. "You just need to cut it open."

"I doubt there is a knife big enough," Yoichi guessed while Mika drew his sword.

"Stand back." With three proficient strikes he halved the big balls.

"That was great Mika! Thank you very much," Shinoa praised him.

"I could halve them again."

"Okay." The purple haired girl held her half up and Mika sliced through it. He did the same for the others.

"Itadakimasu!"

While the others were devouring their melons Mika watched them, smiling a little bit. They had come a long way from fighting each other to being family. Things like this were what reminded the vampire of their trust in him, after all had he slipped up when cutting the melons he could have hurt them.

After he finished Yu sighted and rubbed his stomach. "That was great. Do you think there is more?"

"If you eat any more you'll be growing fat," Shiho deadpanned.

"Huh! I have to eat for Mika too!"

"That sounds like you're pregnant."

"Not you too, Shinoa."

"Aha! I think I see a little belly!"

"I'm just really full!"

"You just said you wanted more. You're really greedy, aren't you?"

Shinoa's and Yu's bickering made everyone laugh. Eventually they decided to go back to training.

"It's such a shame that we can't train our teamwork a bit," Shinoa said.

"You all could still fight against me," Mika proposed, but was turned down by Mitsuba. "You're a part of our team like everyone else. If you weren't fighting with us it wouldn't count as teamwork." She sighed. "Sometimes the horsemen do have their use. Isn't it strange how we haven't seen any horsemen? And apparently there isn't a wall to keep them out like in Shibuya! Don't tell me you don't find it suspicious!"

Everyone grew silent. Suddenly a monster exploded out of the water. It was a Horseman of the Apocalypse, rather small but it had multiple insanely long arms with mean looking pincers.

"WATCH OUT!" Mika shouted as he pulled Mitsuba away from one of the arms while blocking another one with his sword.

"That happens when you speak of the devil!" Shiho shouted.

"Sorry! But-"

"Guys you can squabble later!" Shinoa reprimanded them.

One of the arrows Yoichi shot got lodged in the horseman's flesh and it roared, but not much damage was done. "It has some kind of spell resistance!"

"Then cut it into pieces!" Shinoa ordered and moved to intercept the arms directed at Yoichi.

Mika, Yu and Shiho surrounded the monster and started attacking it from three different directions. Its blood started to dye the water red and one by one its arms and lets got cut off.

Just as the soldiers thought they had won, the horseman sprouted new tentacles out of its wounds. One of them grabbed Shiho and lifted him off the ground to toss him into its maw. Yu immediately sprung into action but he was too slow. He wouldn't reach him in time. Suddenly some sort of scorching light severed the tentacle. The red haired boy safely landed on the ground while another barrage of light slammed into the monster.

"No way."

The teens stared in shock as the beams of light fell down from the sky. After it stopped the monster was only a smoking carcass and the smell made everyone gag. And as if someone had turned on a fan a soft breeze pulled the stench out on sea.

"What the heck is going on here?"

* * *

"Wonderful. Just wonderful," Luna said disgusted by the burnt corpse. She and her father had gone fishing alone today, since the Japanese needed that time to train. Then she muttered to herself: "Why didn't it get disintegrated?"

'What is she talking about? Has it something to do with the light that fell from the sky?' Mika asked himself.

"And it just attacked you and the light beams only came when Shiho was in danger?" The teenagers nodded. "That's bad." She bit her lips. "Really bad."

"Excuse me, but what is this about?" Shinoa asked, but instead of answering the vampire approached the carcass.

In the end it was Jiahao, who explained: "After the virus we had few options. One was to live in one city only so that the vampires could effectively protect us, or we could underground where the Horsemen could not reach us. But one of the kids had plans for a magical defense grid. We call it 'Oberon'. It keeps Horsemen from getting in, but allows travel for animals, humans and vampires. Technically it should instantly kill any monster that as much as takes a step into our territory. And our territory starts some 50 kilometers out on sea."

The only one who wasn't satisfied by that explanation was Shinoa. "But where does the power to create and maintain this field come from?"

The man shrugged. "I don't know the specifics. I am just a fisherman, but Luna and Dmitri know."

Shinoa looked at the vampire girl. A magical barrier of this strength would require more power than a normal human could muster. Had this weak vampire a higher affinity for magic than a human or was it her friend, who was exceptionally talented? She watched the pink haired girl take a sample of the beast's blood. The taste must have been horrible since she gaged.

"Luna! Can you help me with the fish please?" Jiahao called out. His daughter jogged over to him and said: "I'm sorry, dad. I don't think I'll have the time today. I want Dima to come over and look at this."

"Luna, the fish will spoil if we don't process them now. Just take a tentacle or a leg as sample."

The girl pressed he lips together clearly torn between the familial duties and cleaning up this mess.

"Mister Wang, if you don't mind, maybe we could help out," Yoichi proposed.

Mitsuba looked horrified and the others did not seem very excited about it either. Only Luna's red eyes lighted up in hope.

Jiahao was doubtful. "It is a very dirty job and you need some skill."

"I just need to get Dima here. I'll be back before you know it!" Luna reasoned.

The fisherman thought about it. "You have an hour. But then you will help me."

"Okay! Thanks Yoichi for offering." She ran into the house to call her friend while her dad started working on the nets.

"Now what was that?" Mitsu asked the small brown haired bow-man. "Could you please not volunteer us like that?"

"Sorry," Yoichi said rubbing his neck. "I just thought it would be a good idea to help out. I mean we are eating their food and do nothing in return."

For a second everyone was silent. Then Shinoa said: "Actually we've been helping with the dishes. It's not a lot but there is nothing else we can do."

"Shiho could cook dinner," Mitsu suggested.

"Who is volunteering someone else now?"

"Would you rather that I cooked?"

"Don't you dare," Shiho growled.

"Then it's decided. Shiho will be cooking today," Shinoa declared and the tall boy resigned to his fate. "So what are we going to do until then?"

"How about we play hide and seek?" Mirai asked hopefully. She had been a bit bored today. There was a limit to how much she could read on one day and the older kids needed to train. As a civilian without a demon weapon the little girl could not train with them, although they tried to make some time to play with her or teach her self-defense techniques.

"Great idea! Some noisy people could use some training in moving stealthily," Shinoa said with a side look at Yu.

"Like hell I'm noisy," Yu shouted.

"Oh? So who was shouting just now, hm? Who wants to search first?"

* * *

When Luna came back with Dmitri, giving him a piggy-back ride, which was somewhat difficult since the 21 years old man was a lot taller than her and his hands kept wandering from her forehead over her eyes or he was choking her trying to hold on, she noticed that the visitors were gone and the local birdlife decided to clean up the rotting horseman.

"Where is everyone?" she wondered.

Her red eyed friend just shrugged. "Maybe they had to go somewhere. I'll just get started."

Then a voice called from the house's roof: "Luna? Are you back?"

"Mirai? How did you get up there?"

"I climbed the shed. It isn't so far up from there."

Suddenly the other Japanese burst out of the woods.

"Mirai! Why are you up there? It's dangerous," her brother shouted in panic.

"But it's nice up here and you can't get me."

Dmitri tapped Luna's shoulder and asked: "Stairs or slide?"

"Stairs would be nice. I don't feel like sliding today."

"'Kay," the white haired man said cheerfully. He stretched out his right hand and suddenly three columns of solid ice grew from the ground. Luna used them to jump up. The others looked wide eyed at the wizard. "What? Have I done something wrong?"

Just then Luna landed on the ground with a pouting Mirai in her arms.

"This is so unfair. I had the best hiding place ever."

"Life isn't fair. No hiding on the roof. Your brother is right when he says it's dangerous. Dima, carcass over there. I need to run and help my dad. Ah and before I forget: Dmitri, Mirai, Shiho, Yuichiro, Mikaela, Shinoa, Mitsuba, Yoichi," she introduced them. "Play nice." And she ran towards the dock.

"Uhm, this is somewhat awkward," Dima chuckled when the teenagers were still staring at him. "For your information: I am human, not a vampire. I just look like one since I'm an albino."

That was actually not what they wanted to know. "That was magic, right? How did you do it without a talisman?" Shinoa asked.

The man relaxed visibly. With a movement of his hand he made the ice disappear. "I don't need a stripe of paper to do magic. Do you know the three requirements for magic?"

"Power, imagination and will," Yoichi answered immediately.

"I guess those three words describe it as well." He held out his left hand with its palm facing up. "Raw power, borrowed from nature itself." A light danced over his palm. "Imagination, inspiration or a plan what you want to do with it." The light turned into a crown made up of fragile looking arches. It looked like it was caught in a state between glass and light. "And finally the will to make it real." The light faded and left an ethereal crown made of quartz. "Easy really."

Dima put the crown on Shinoa's head and winked at her. The girl blushed and a certain swordsman gave the magician a dirty glare.

"Anyway I'd really like to talk, but if I don't finish my work Luna's gonna' pull my ears until they are pointy like hers."

"Can I watch?" Yoichi asked.

"If you want to. But I don't think it's going to be very interesting to watch, really."

"No, I'd really like to learn more about magic."

"Come on then."

While Yoichi and Dima walked to the Horseman the other teens went back to playing Hide-and-Seek. Mika was going to be it. While he counted down he wondered where that wizard got his power from. When Crowley Eusford had taught him swordplay he had also said that humans always needed talismans to perform magic, because they could not get enough energy. So where was this person getting it from?

When the sun started to set, the group decided to start cooking. Shiho had obviously claimed the stove and was ordering the others around. After some time the meal was done and the tall boy sent his henchmen to get the others. Soon all the places were filled and everyone was eating and complementing the cook. Luna sat also at the crowded table and she looked like she could be falling asleep any second.

"You know, you don't have to carry me home. I can 'port there," Dmitri suggested to his friend.

"No you won't teleport anywhere. The last time you ended up twenty meters up in the air," Luna retorted somewhat angrily.

"You caught me that time. And besides, I got a lot better."

"No is no."

"As Your Majesty orders," the pale skinned man conceded with a teasing voice. "Anyway we have two problems: One, the Horseman's magic signature is somehow almost like Oberon's. And secondly, it has some curse resistance, but it's especially tailored as countermeasure against demon-weapons."

"That's why it was immune to our weapons," Yoichi exclaimed.

"Exactly! Obviously it's not perfect. I could come up with some improvements … " Dmitri noticed the pink haired vampire giving him the evil stare "But that's not the point."

"What's a magic signature?" Mitsuba asked.

"A signature is something like an ID. Every human has its own distinctive one, vampires have one similar to their ancestors and horsemen have one so vastly different that they are more similar to plants than to hominids. The problem is that this sort of manipulation has to be done by vampires while the curse-resistance is certainly a feature made by humans."

"Wait! Are you saying that humans and vampire worked together to create this thing?" Shiho asked very shocked.

When the albino man nodded Mitsuba shouted: "Impossible! There is no way they could work together to create a weapon like that!"

"No, Mitsu," Shinoa held her glass tighter. "Remember, the Seraphs were also made by experiments of both sides. But what is this new Horseman for?"

Dima shrugged. "I have no idea. I don't know enough about your political situation. Could someone want to destroy the Demon Army?"

Shinoa solemnly shook her head. "Just the vampires. The JIDA is devoted to the Hiiragi household ... and to my half-brother Kureto."

An uncomfortable silence settled over the table. Could there be a traitor among the JIDA's top brass? Could the 'Brotherhood of a Thousand Nights' be behind this? Some of their members could have survived somehow. Or was there another human organization trying to gain control over Japan? It was also possible that the vampires had captured a few researches and had tortured them for information about the demon weapons.

"Hah, this is so stupid," Luna said half asleep. "Start using your heads for once."

The humans looked at her in surprise and, at least in Shinoa's case, annoyance.

"Whoever did this is not threatening Japan or the JIDA … yet. Maybe after … Anyway they want you guys out of the picture first. If they were to go after the JIDA or Japan's vampires they wouldn't have to change the horseman's magic-ID."

"Which is pretty complicated, I might add," Dima added to his friend's explanation. "Seems logical. As expected from Her Majesty!"

"If you call me that one more time I'll throw you to the moon!"

"Hehe, I've always wanted to go there."

"Shut it, little prick. Are you done eating?"

Dima nodded and Luna pulled him towards the front door by one arm around his waist.

"Seems I have to go! Nice to meet you! Until next time!" He waved at them.

As soon as they were out the door Shiho said: "You know, if that Ferid guy were to be a nice person, I think he would be like that." And the others nodded.

* * *

Soon after the sun set, the mosquitoes started buzzing around. Mika had always assumed that they found their victims by body heat and smell, but for some reason they preferred the cold non-sweating vampire to his human brother. And their high pitched buzz didn't make it any easier to endure.

Consequently the vampire fled into the house. After killing the last bloodsucking insect he took the old book about vampires from the shelf and read. After a few hours he heard the door being opened and a very tired looking vampire stumbled into the living room.

"What are you doing here?" Luna bluntly asked.

Mika retorted angrily, "I don't want my blood to get sucked by these annoying mosquitoes. "Something wrong with that?"

She flinched and avoided his eyes. "I'm sorry for snapping at you. It was rude of me."

Mika went back to reading his book while the girl got herself a glass of water.

"Who turned you?"

Mika flinched at her question. It was not something he wanted to remember and he wasn't thankful for it either. If anything he wanted to pretend it never happened.

"I'm sorry. Forget it."

"The third progenitor Krul Tepes did."

Luna slowly nodded. "Ah, the Queen did. That explains a lot."

"It does?" He paused and asked, "Do you know her?"

"Yeah. I do. But it has been a long time since I've last seen her."

After a short silence Mika asked: "How old are you?" He didn't receive an answer. The girl had fallen asleep. When was the last time someone he knew for only a few days had fallen asleep so nonchalantly? Was she stupid? She left herself defenseless in the company of a stronger vampire! Mika studied her face. She looked very human and innocent.

"Hey." Mika shook her softly. "Don't sleep here. Go to bed."

"Hm?" She blinked sleepily. "Ah. Right ..."

She stood up and froze. Their gazes met and Mika noticed how her expression changed from sleepy to sad and somewhat gentle. It almost felt like a different person was looking at him; someone far older than Luna Wang; an exhausted and hurt being. Then she ruffled his hair.

"Please don't hate her for turning you. I think she chose well, Mikaela Hyakuya."

Before Mika could react she pulled back her hand and Luna's eyes clouded again. "Up," she muttered to herself. "Up. Bed."

"Wait! What do you mean?" Mika called out as he caught her hand, which was not the best idea of the century. The girl stumbled into him and the two fell on the floor. Apparently Luna wasn't a very picky person and literally fell asleep on Mika's chest. Mika clicked his tongue and carried her up to her room like a sack of flour.

Luna's room was pretty austere. The most noteworthy things were a porcelain sculpture of a wolf and one of a western dragon, her sword and a wall filled with pictures of Jiahao, a woman who seemed to be his wife and Luna.

For a vampire who claimed to have lived quite a time, she did not possess many old things. To Mika it almost looked like she purposely discarded anything that belonged to her before coming here.

* * *

 _I will protect them with all my power._

 _"Don't worry. Where ever you are, no matter who threatens you, I will come to save you. You are my precious siblings. So please trust me."_

 _Centuries ago three siblings spent some time in a village in the mountains. The oldest wasn't concerned when her two siblings told her, they would go out into the mountains to play with their friends. However when suddenly a blizzard arrived her companion was barely able to hold her back from going out into the icy storm to search for them._

 _"You don't know where they are," he said with and even almost cold voice. "Even you would freeze to death in this weather."_

 _The father of one of the missing kids stormed into the inn bringing 'good' news. "Someone saw them at the old castle!"_

 _"I'm going."_

 _"Don't be rash. They'll-"_

 _She pulled her hand out of his grip. "They'll die! I know what I'm doing, Urd. Nothing and nobody will stand in my way. Not even nature!"_

 _It was so cold. If not for her power the girl would possibly be frozen by now. The fire kept her warm. The fire made it easier for her to walk. Even with her vampire strength it took her one hour to reach the ruins. There she found the children huddled together in the castles old dungeon. A little magical flame hovered in the air to spend a little bit of warmth. One of her siblings must have conjured it. The female rushed in and hugged all five children._

 _"Thank goodness you are alright! I am so sorry! I should have protected you better! Wait a second." She took her siblings faces into her hands, first the little girl than the boy and looked deep into their eyes. Red met red. "I am so sorry. I am sorry." She pulled them in for another hug._

 _Back in the village they were treated almost like heroes. But after they left they never visited again. "I should have protected you. Then you wouldn't have needed to drink human blood to survive and save these kids and you would have continued to grow into beautiful adults. I am so sorry. I swear to never fail again. I WILL keep you safe!"_

 _But she was unable to keep that promise and the family fell apart._


	4. Chapter 4

Someone knocked on Luna's door. The sun was already shining through a window and she was still blinking sleepily, so not ready to get up. Jiahao entered her room, sat at her bedside and petted her head.

"Wakey, wakey little sunshine."

Luna groaned and turned away.

"Just look at how the sun is calling you."

'Hah, good riddance daddy! The stupid sun is calling me to kill me,' she thought. But then her dear father started waking her up by tickling. Instead of laughing Luna got pissed off. For God's sake it's morning! She just wasn't ticklish when she wasn't properly awake.

"Stop it, papa!" She shouted and sat up. "I am awake."

"Good. Do you want breakfast?"

Luna hesitated. Would Mika smell Jiahao's blood? Would it affect him in any way? He made his dislike for vampires very clear. The girl didn't want the other vampire to hate her. Suddenly she was very aware of the dry feeling in her throat and the pulse beneath the man's skin.

Whatever the boy would think of her she had to eat. Mika could hate her, but he could never hurt her and she wouldn't allow him to hurt the people she loved.

"Yes please."

The older man rolled up his sleeve. "Take as much as you need."

Luna swiftly bit down in a way that spilled not one drop of Jiahao's blood.

"Thanks for the food." When she had finished drinking she licked her lips a few times to get rid of the blood on them. Even though fresh blood was fueling her life Luna felt strangely downcast. She gripped her dad's sleeve. "Dad?"

"Hm?"

"I-I don't have to leave this place, right? I can stay forever," The vampire teared up and her voice pitched higher. So many times she had to leave a life she had built. Either the humans rejected her for what she was or her biological father had ripped her from her home because she was His precious experiment. So many times she had gained an existence she was proud of, but in the end it all turned to dust irrevocably. "I don't want to go ever. I want to stay."

"Shh, It's okay." Jiahao pulled his daughter in for a hug. "You're home little girl. Don't worry I'll stay as long as I can. And after that you still have the people from the City. You are never alone."

"Ah, I … thanks." Her body was still shivering as she stared into the nothingness. "I am home. I … am home."

Jiahao was used to this break-down. He continued to hug the girl and pat her back. She had told him why and the man knew it would still take some time until his words finally sunk in and Luna understood that after two thousand years she had found a place to stay in.

* * *

The teenagers were training again. Luna didn't understand why they would waste such a perfect day with play-fighting. Well, actually she understood that they had to keep their skills sharp, but for her taste they were training far too often.

She approached them with two big baskets in her arms. "GOOD MORNING! Do you guys have anything you'd like to have washed? We're having a laundry-day today!"

"Are you sure it's okay for us to dump this work on you?" Yoichi asked while the others were crawling around in their tents to find their stray socks. Luna had to laugh when she heard the boys squabbling.

"Oi, Mika! That's mine!"

"You don't have blue socks Yu."

"Sure I do!"

"No you don't."

"Of course it's alright Yoichi. One shirt more doesn't matter. Anyway, were you planning on wearing the same stuff again and again?"

The short boy rubbed his neck in embarrassment. "We didn't really put a lot of thought into these things. Are you sure you don't want me to carry one of those baskets?"

"Don't worry," Luna said while holding each basket filled with clothes with only one finger. "I'm a vampire. This is nothing to me."

* * *

After doing her chores Luna build sandcastles with Mirai. The girls were playing a good distance away from the training teenagers, but sometimes they would stumble into their little sandy world.

It was not fun to always repair the things they had already built and although the vampire's patience was already wearing thin, Mirai was the first to snap.

"Not again big brother!" Mirai cried at Shiho who just knocked over an outpost, 'defending' their imaginary kingdom against stumbling giants aka. Shinoa's squad.

"I'm sorry!" Shiho frantically apologized to her but the little girl just pouted. "I really am! Please stop looking like that! I will make it up!"

"Repair the tower immediately!"

While Shiho was digging in the ruins for a flag Mirai had planted on top of the tower (and his sister was very adamant on the fact that the tower should look just the same as before) Shinoa suggested: "We could use a break. Why don't we all build sandcastles?"

At first not all of the teenagers were convinced that playing in the sand could be fun, but somehow they decided to throw a competition on the best built sandcastle. After that they were all digging like moles.

Mika and Yu had built a sturdy looking medieval castle, but it didn't have an entrance since every time they'd try to make one it would simply crumble down.

Yoichi and Shiho had built the same castle with more extensive defenses and a doorway.

"How come it didn't break like ours did?" Yu complained.

"Well, that's the difference between our skill levels." Shiho replied with a deadpan voice.

"I think I didn't hear you. Want to say that again?"

"Now now boys. Don't fight. It's obvious that Mitsu's and my castle is superior."

"Come again?"

But then they saw the girls' fortress was really well made and even had little houses in its bailey.

"Hah! We made something better!" Mirai proudly declared. Luna's and her sandcastle was not a castle in the literal sense. It was a miniature version of Athens's Acropolis.

"How the heck did you build that roof?" Shiho asked and Mitsuba sneaked up to check it out.

"Hey that's a piece of wood! That's cheating!"

"No it isn't," Luna declared. "The rules said only 'no tools', but using something else than sand was not forbidden."

"Anyway, our castle is easier to defend!" Mitsuba said.

"No, ours is better because its wall has no weak points," Mika disagreed.

"But your people can't get out," Yoichi said.

The faint rumble of the washing machine distracted Luna. It was probably spin-drying the laundry. "Guys?" She tried to get their attention.

"So what? We'll just build a secret tunnel!" Yuichiro shot back.

"Guys!"

"You couldn't even make a normal gate!" Shiho taunted his friend.

"People!" The pink haired vampire tried again but they were caught up in their disagreement. "Oh, well. I give up. I'm over at the house helping my dad with the laundry, 'kay?" She stated to no one in particular.

"Wait, I'll help too," Yoichi said. To their surprise Mika walked up to them. "I guess it's better than watching them squabble."

* * *

Luna held one of her damp shirts to her face and inhaled the smell. The scent of freshly washed clothes was among has favorite smells, alongside hyacinth and orange-blossoms (and blood of course, but Luna would rather rip her own heart out before admitting that). The best part of living at the edge of a forest was that they could tie new clotheslines to nearby trees. The few lines Luna and Jiahao normally used for their laundry had by far too little space for all the clothes they had to hang up.

The vampire estimated that, due to the warm breeze the clothes would be dry this very evening. She loved this peaceful atmosphere, the sun warming her back and the wind gently pulling her hair.

Smiling she brought the last basket filled with damp laundry to Mika and took some shirts to hang on an almost filled clothesline. When she turned back, she caught him staring.

"Is something wrong?"

"No. Nothing."

Grinning, the girl proceeded with hanging up shirts and trousers on the line Mika was working on.

"Aww, come on. Spill it!" She said laughing.

"You are too humanlike. It's strange ..."

"Well~, the others say that I'm insane. I guess I am. And I really like it! Smiling, I like it. You know Mika," Luna started and when he looked at her she threw a shirt in his face. "Quit the simply surviving crap and start living! It's much more fun!"

He just stayed silent and looked away, but Luna didn't mind. Even if she had unintentionally hurt him, she didn't care. After all, Yu would be happier seeing his brother happy too, right?

"I'm done at my side. Do you still need help?" Yoichi ran up to the vampires.

"No. We'll manage," Mika said curtly.

Yoichi looked from one vampire to the other probably asking himself whether a fight between them broke out if he were to leave. "Okay. But if there's anything I can do just call, okay?"

"Yup. Thanks Yoichi!" Luna said. Right after the boy was after earshot, she scolded the blond: "That was not very nice."

Mika snorted. "You sure are lucky. How can you live with in naïve existence when people are killed somewhere else? I bet you never had to fight for anything. I bet you never watched you family getting killed before your eyes!"

His crimson eyes blazed in fury. Underneath that anger Luna could discern other emotions. Envy, hate, desperation, guilt. Perhaps he was more mature than she had given him credit for. Normally vampires lose all emotions, except for pleasure when feeding and complexes from their human-times. Maybe 'complex' was had the wrong connotation, but these emotions had one thing in common: They were directed at the most important thing of a vampire. It could be love, like Mika's love for his brother; It could be revenge or anger; Or it could be a wish, a human's deepest desire.

Luna reached out with her hand and gently played with his golden hair. "You're right. I am a weak person for desiring this life. If I was promised a peaceful century in this place and an equally peaceful death, I would give away everything I have been until now and I would never ever look beyond the borders of my home and try to change anything.

I have already lived for so long. I killed countless people as a vampire. When I gained two younger siblings I couldn't protect them. I couldn't stop the person I trusted most from going insane. I had to sacrifice my brother, no I was too weak to stop that person without sacrificing my brother for the sake of humanity and my sister hates me for it!

It must have been hard for you, being so weak. But if you need power to protect your family why do you want to be human again? You'll only lose the power you have as a vampire."

Mika didn't answer. He just stared into her red eyes trying to figure her out. Most likely Luna's explanation was not what he expected, especially not the way she had talked, softly with a voice filled only with regret.

Luna pulled her hand back and sat the two baskets on her head, balancing them with the skill of many years' training. "Should we go back too?" She asked Mika, smiling again.

Mika swallowed and his cheeks were slightly pinker than before. She was pretty, he thought. Why hadn't he noticed before how her eyes lighted up when she smiled? Why hadn't he perceived before how her pink hair sparkled in the sunlight? Why hadn't he seen that she was more human than vampire?

 _When was a being a vampire and when was it a human? What defined them? What were their differences? What did they have in common? Why were they fighting each other?_

* * *

When they returned to the others, they were watching Yu and Shiho fighting, in a very literal sense.

"Hey! You guys are just in time to see Yu win," Shinoa greeted them, but Mirai disagreed with iron confidence: "No way! My brother is stronger! He won't lose!"

Luna plopped down next to the lavender haired girl, put the baskets beside her and watched the fight with a frown on her face.

"And what do you think?" Shinoa asked with an almost mocking smile. "This is the skill of the JIDA's top soldiers."

For a second Luna thought about lying, saying that they were quite good in her eyes, but she was only a minor vampire and had little real-combat experience. But Shinoa was right: they were soldiers. One day they would stand again on a battlefield and the female vampire didn't want them to die.

"They're good, but predictable. The footwork is average, but not good enough for a battle on uneven ground. And none of them is varying their speed and force. They'll tire themselves out too fast."

"Eh, that's all? I thought you'd be amazed since Mika said you were weaker than him. Does that mean you can fight better than them?"

"I said it before, power isn't everything."

Shinoa's face lit up with one of her creepy 'you-are-not-going-to-like-this' smiles. "Then~ would mind sparring with me?"

"Hm. Truthfully I am not in the mood." Luna lay down on her belly and watched the two boys. There was something about the way Yu fought that reminded her of someone else, someone who had tried to teach her Japanese swordplay and had failed miserably. Luna chuckled as he used one of Asherah's favorite moves.

"Ehh? Really? Aren't you just afraid to lose?" Shinoa taunted her.

The vampire decided to play along. "No. I am just trying to save you the embarrassment of being miserably defeated in front of your crush."

Shinoa blushed. "I do not have a crush on Yu! And besides who said I was going to lose anyway?"

"Hey keep it down you two! And Luna: it would be better to do what this idiot says. She can be very stubborn," Mitsuba barked at them.

"Oh, Mitsu, you've hurt my feelings!" Shinoa sang. "But she is right, you know. I can be very stubborn."

Luna raised her hands in defeat. "Alright, alright. I get it and give up. Just let me get my sword."

When the vampire girl came back she wore her sword on a belt around her hips.

"Are you sure you want to use that sword? It looks more like a ceremonial sword to me." Mitsuba asked.

She had a point. Its hilt was in a very ornate 18th century Schiavona style made of golden and reddish copper alloys and the scabbard featured matching gold-red-black designs.

"Yep. It was specially made for me," Luna said, but omitted the facts that unlike other weapons, this sword did not enhance the physical abilities when fed blood, but gets repaired instead. "A very precious friend of mine gave me this sword when I had finished learning the basics of swordsmanship." Her face had a very gentle smile while she traced the hilts pattern with her fingers.

"Wonderful. Now that you are ready too, could you two boys make some space?!" Shinoa shouted at the still fighting guys. Even though they had been fighting so focused and furiously, Shiho and Yu stopped immediately and sheathed their weapons.

Surprisingly Yu stopped by Luna and said: "Good luck. You'll need it."

The vampire looked into the boy's emerald eyes. "No, I won't, but thanks anyway, Yu."

Yu walked over to the other spectators and shouted at Shinoa: "Oi Shinoa! Don't lose against this arrogant vampire!"

"On whose side are you?!" Both girls muttered at the same time.

* * *

Shinoa and Luna were facing each other on the beach. She brought out her scythe and with a soft scraping hiss the vampire unsheathed her sword and went into a fencing stance.

The purple haired girl twirled her scythe a bit. "Do you want to start or should I?" she asked.

"I'll start, if it's okay."

She nodded and Luna sprang towards her. Shinoa started turning around, twirling her scythe too fast for an eye to follow. Luna's attack was blocked and Shinoa started attacking relentlessly at a speed where only well trained progenitors would be able to exploit her weak spots.

At another attack from the left, Luna moved back out of Shinoa's range, only to jump right back at her. The scythe's handle had just passed by, Shinoa couldn't change its direction because of the inertia and Luna could easily grab Shinoa from behind and hold her blade to the human's throat.

"Impressive. Have you dealt with scythe-wielders before?" Shinoa asked and Luna let go of her.

"No, but I had extensive combat training." She stepped a few meters away. "You attack me now."

Shinoa grinned while Luna was concentrating. Fighting a weaker opponent wasn't easy and she had to watch how much power she was using. It would look strange if a vampire weaker than Mika did not struggle at all.

Shinoa attacked from above, completely ignoring her defense. Luna swiftly dodged. This time the Japanese attacked even faster and the vampire struggled to keep up. One time Shinoa almost cut some of her hair off and another she only dodged by bending back until her head almost touched the ground.

After another narrow miss, Shinoa called out: "Where did your confidence go?"

Her taunt actually aggravated Luna and she closed in. Shinoa immediately swung her weapon and the blades met with a loud clang. Luna had blocked her attack at the scythe's handle. She grabbed the handle, made a turn and pointed her sword to the girl's throat.

"You must be joking," Shinoa sighed.

"I am sorry for not going down so easily," Luna said with sarcasm in her voice.

"It's okay. I still haven't given everything I've got anyway." The girls stepped away from each other and suddenly purple tattoo-like designs appeared on Shinoa's skin.

"Hey Shinoa! Stop it! That's too much!" Shiho shouted and Luna crunched her eyebrows in confusion. What the hell were they talking about?

"Haha, now I can take you down!" Shinoa shouted and sped towards the vampire. Luna had barley time to dodge, but could not counterattack. Shinoa's defense was bulletproof and Luna admired her for not getting dizzy from her turning and twirling!

Suddenly the soldier called out: "Shi-chan!" A black form appeared. Obviously it was the weapon's demon that attacked the vampire with its maw wide open. Its big body filled Luna's field of vision.

The girl raised her sword and swung it back down unleashing a wave of red energy that cut the demon apart. At the same time Shinoa, who had been using the demon to obscure her approach, jumped through the demon's immaterial body and brought the tip of her weapon to the vampire's chest.

"Gotcha! How was that for predictable?" Shinoa panted. Sweat gathered in drops on her brow.

"Awesome! I'll have to remember that!" Luna laughed. Vampires don't tire easily if at all.

"Shinoa! Are you okay?" Yu came running towards us with the others I tow.

"I'm fine." She smiled exhaustedly. Then suddenly her head started to spin and she stumbled right into Yu's chest. "Ah! S-sorry."

By now her face wasn't red just because of her exertion. More likely the close proximity to the green-eyed male was the cause of her flushed face. Luna was grinning like a fool.

"Hey you're all red. Do you have a fever? Or … wait a sec…" Yu handed her his water bottle.

"He is not the sharpest tool in the shed, is he?" Luna asked Mitsuba who responded with a scowling face: "Not even close."

Shiho, who had the slightest blush on his cheeks, cleared his throat and startled the two lovebirds who in turn became very flustered. "Really now."

"Yes. Very disappointing." Mitsuba agreed with the red haired boy.

"I actually wanted to say that they should finish somewhere else."

"Now then I am next!" Yu declared and drew his sword. He looked expectantly at Luna.

"Wait. You want to fight me?"

"Yes! I'm going to beat you too."

"Hah. I doubt my ego could cope with another beating," Luna said.

"Are you that fragile?" Yu taunted her. He must have caught on that the vampire was easy to rile up. "I really thought that vampires were more powerful than that, being immortal and all."

"You really don't know when to keep your mouth shut." Luna spun around pointing her sword at the green eyed boy. "Bring it on."

* * *

 _"Bring it on." The girl faced a man who was a head taller and well-muscled. She wore a man's clothing, which was very unusual for that time. Both were vampires._

 _The man did not draw his weapon. "I am terribly sorry Miss, but I will not strike a woman."_

 _"I call bullshit," the girl called. "I am far more powerful than you, son of a seventh progenitor."_

 _The man sighed. In a way she was like Ferid Bathory. Everything had to go their way. After finding the silver haired vampire again, Bathory insisted on introducing Crowley to a first progenitor._

 _'Connections are everything in the vampire world,' Ferid would always say. 'If you are allied with a powerful progenitor no one will be able to touch you.'_

 _And like that they took a carriage south to a certain mansion. Crowley expected a grandiose building like Ferid had them, but instead he saw a Villa Rustica, a country villa in Roman style. It looked like the only recent addition was the iron fence, which marked the border of the Lord's ground._

 _A young woman was waiting at the gate. He and Ferid left the carriage and Crowley watched as the older vampire bowed deeply._

 _"It is good to see you Lady Tepes. I hope your father is well," Ferid purred. For once he did not talk with that condescending tone of his._

 _"He is." The girl carried herself proudly, but to Crowley it looked fake, like she was only playing a character on a stage._

 _"By the by, this is Crowley Eusford, my youngest friend." Ferid threw an arm around the former crusader who said: "I don't consider you my friend."_

 _"Oh that hurts Crowley! I really thought we had something," Ferid cried theatrically. The Tepes smiled and Crowley thought it suited her more than the blank face she had before._

 _The three vampires walked into the house, crossed a room with a rectangular hole in the ceiling and entered another room. A red haired man slept in a throne made of marble. The girl sighed and motioned the vampires to stay back and be quiet. Then she went up to him, sat down at his side and shook the vampire awake._

 _"Father, Ferid and his child are here."_

 _Again Crowley was introduced by Ferid. When the red eyes of the first progenitor fell on him, Crowley shivered. He felt like the progenitors gaze went right through him, pulling him apart and exposing the lie Ferid and he told the world. Crowley was given the blood of a second progenitor by Ferid Bathory, but nobody was allowed to know. The punishment for using the blood of another vampire to turn someone was to be imprisoned for eternity._

 _The first progenitor did not say a word to him. Instead he started talking with Ferid. After a few minutes Crowley realized that politics were always the same, in the human world and in the vampire society. The girl sat quietly on her father's side, listening to the men talk with downcast eyes. If she hadn't been kneading her dress with her hands, one could believe that she was actually content with all this talk about people and locations, whose names Crowley had never heard._

 _"My dear, why don't you show Mister Eusford around while Ferid and I wrap up our business?" The progenitor requested and his daughter complied._

 _Soon they found themselves in a courtyard. Some big trees threw shadows over the paved ground._

 _What should Crowley talk about with a woman? When he had been a crusader he had been sworn to celibacy and after he was turned into a vampire he never felt any need to interact with the opposite sex. When it came to blood all humans were equally tasty._

 _"Can you wield that sword or is it just for show?" she suddenly asked._

 _"No, I am a swordsman. I have also fought in a crusade some seventy years ago."_

 _"Good. Teach me swordplay."_

 _Crowley almost burst out laughing. Even though this girl was a vampire, she was still a girl, dressed in the latest European fashion. "And how will the mighty Miss Tepes fight in a dress?"_

 _At first she glared at him. Then she said: "You're right. I should go and change." Then she ran off. When she came back she wore simple pants and a shirt. She also carried a collection of various bladed weapons._

 _Out of those she selected a medieval broadsword saying: "I prefer a Roman shield and a gladius, but this will have to do. And now bring it on."_

 _"I am terribly sorry Miss, but I will not strike a woman."_

 _"I call bullshit," the girl called. "I am far more powerful than you, son of a seventh progenitor." Boasting she jumped at him. Crowley had barley time to pull out his blade and the force of the blow almost drove him to his knees. Her technique was average at best, but she could compensate its lack with her strength._

 _"You are no thirteenth progenitor! Haha, oh my, did Ferid do something bad again?"_

 _Crowley's blood froze. "How did you know?" he whispered._

 _The female vampire laughed again. "Relax, I won't tell father … if you train me that is."_

 _"It doesn't seem like I have much of a choice."_

 _"No you don't. I always get what I want."_

 _Crowley spent the rest of the day teaching the girl basic techniques. Like his human students he had her repeat one move countless times. Even though it was odd to teach a girl fighting in the fourteenth century, the former crusader noticed her talent. If women can be talented at swordplay, couldn't they be also good at other activities or professions that are considered to be exclusively for men?_

 _Later in his life he would consider all people as equals, but on that day he was still Crowley Eusford, raised in the twelfth century, ex-crusader and former follower of Christian believes. On that day he still believed in the rules of society that told every man and woman what they were allowed to do._

 _"Aha, that looks like fun! Can I join in too?" Ferid called out. The sun had just set and Crowley thought it to be a good idea to spar a little so that the Tepes could try out what she had learned. Next to Ferid stood the first progenitor. He did not seem to be angry; he didn't seem to be especially happy either._

 _"My Lady, I would be very glad if I was allowed to take Crowley with me. His Majesty has given us a mission," the silver haired vampire told the girl._

 _"Be my guest Feridiot," she replied and to Crowley she said: "I hope you will come again to teach me."_

 _"But of course." Crowley bowed down to kiss her hand, careful not to touch her knuckles with his lips._

 _When he and Ferid sat again in a carriage the older vampire looked very content. "You should consider yourself lucky, Crowley. If you tread carefully the young Tepes is going to be your ally and no one will be able to touch you." He spread his arms theatrically and asked: "And that's all thanks to me. Say Crowley, am I not a good friend to you?"_

 _"Why are you doing this Ferid?"_

 _"That is complicated, my dear Crowley, very complicated. Would you be happy with the answer: I was bored? To me, this is just the best game in the world."_

* * *

 _Fer id \+ idiot = Feridiot;_

 _I did a little bit of research on the Hand-kiss. It derived from the tradition to kiss a Lord's signet ring. Traditionally a man would only kiss the hand of a married or widowed woman. He was not supposed to touch the skin (or glove) of an unmarried woman with his lips as this was considered to be a declaration of love._


	5. Chapter 5

Two weeks after Shinoa's squad had first met the fisherman and his daughter, they were spending their last day at their house. For the last time they went fishing with the locals and Mitsuba reeled in a quite big Pacific chub mackerel, which they decided to eat for dinner.

Ever since the visitors had decided they'd help with cooking, deciding on whose turn it was had become quite the hassle, although Luna appreciated their help.

"What do you mean you haven't cooked before?" Luna practically shouted at the other vampire.

"I don't need human food," Mika said to his defense.

"So what? You drink their blood, so you gotta take care of them! Hey! Everyone! Mika and I are going to cook today!" she shouted to the other kids, stopping their argument.

Yu asked quietly: "Mika, are you sure this is a good idea?"

But before the blond could say anything, the other vampire said: "It is. Really, a guy not able to cook in the twenty-first century is really pathetic. Ah, but the same holds true for girls too."

"We can cook!" The three humans shouted at the same time.

"I know that you can cook, Mirai," the vampire said with a cheeky grin.

"So can we!" Shinoa retorted and Mitsuba nodded in agreement.

"Well, if you like coal that is."

"That's it!" Mitsuba called her axe and swung it at the vampire, careful not to damage the ship. The girl dodged until she landed on the railing and slipped, barley catching herself before she could fall into the sea.

"That's enough, Mitsuba!" Shiho called out. "If you are tired of being teased about it then I will help you, but stop taking it on others."

A grin spread on Shinoa's face. "Eh, Shiho, just why are you trying to turn Mitsu into a housewife? Do you want her to be _your_ housewife?"

The red head pushed his glasses up and made them reflect the sunlight. "Don't be stupid, Shinoa. I don't need one. _I_ am the perfect housewife. What would you have done without me all the time we were running away from the vampires and the Demon Army?"

"He's got a point there," Yu agreed and Yoichi cheered: "As expected from Shiho."

While the setting sun colored the sky in various shades of red and violets, Luna was chopping vegetables.

'Two weeks ago at the same time I didn't even know them and now I'd like for them to stay or at least return regularly. So much has changed,' she thought.

* * *

"Here. Put those into the big pot," she said while she handed Mika the cut carrots. "When they start turning brownish, pour some water on them and put a pinch of sugar in or they won't get soft. And while you're at it, put some water into the fish-tray too."

Unlike before when she had grilled the fish in a frying pan, this time they were grilling it in the oven.

"Is there always so much to do?" Mika asked.

"Mostly yes. If you do more things at the same time you can shorten the actual time you stand in the kitchen."

After he had done all that and Mika caught the girl smiling softly as she peeled parsnip roots. "Why are you smiling?"

"Am I not allowed to?" Luna said with a mocking tone.

"No. I was just wondering."

"Hm. I am happy that you came here, because I had a great time and I hope you did too." More softly she added: "I wish you were staying longer."

Mika went back to stirring the vegetable pot, but Luna could still notice a faint trace of red on his cheeks.

"The rice-water is boiling," Mika said in his monotone voice.

"What? So soon?" Luna started to panic, since she did not have the right amount of rice ready yet. Completely befuddled she cut herself deeply in her left hand's palm while putting the knife down without looking. "Oh, crap!" She cursed as she pushed the cutting board and all the diced and now bloody parsnip into the kitchen sink. "Damn it."

Pain shot through Mika's chest. He hadn't drunk blood in two days and he was almost at his limit. Normally he would have asked Yu for blood on the next morning, but the enticing smell of blood hung in the air. Whether from human or vampire, blood was blood and the boy felt his body longing for it. He saw how the red liquid ran down her hand to the wrist, how it gathered in tiny pools in her palm or dropped on the copped vegetables.

What a waste it would be to wash it away, this priceless liquid of life. Mika felt his arm moving and without actually thinking he grabbed hold of her lower arm. He didn't notice how strongly he squeezed her arm, completely taken over by his thirst for blood.

The liquid cooled his burning throat, filled his stomach and warmed his heart. Slowly he licked up every last drop from the wrist to where the wound had been, savoring it as if it was his last meal. But there was more blood underneath the skin. He just had to bite into that soft flesh.

Mika was already baring his teeth, when Luna hissed: "NO!"

Staring into her burning eyes Mika's conscience returned and he let her hand go like he had received an electric shock from it. Wide eyed he stared at the person he had almost attacked, a person he had come to consider his friend.

"I-I-," he stuttered as he backed up towards the door. "I'm s-sorry. I didn't mean to." And then he ran, past his family, away from everything and he wished that he could run away from himself too.

"Mika?" Yu asked startled and the others looked either after him or to the kitchen door, where a very confused vampire stood. "Hey! What did you say to my brother?" the swordsman demanded to know.

"Nothing…" Luna said still a bit baffled.

Jiahao sighed. "What did you do to him?"

"I said 'nothing'," his daughter retorted angrily. "Why am I always at fault?" Suddenly she heard how the water in the rice pot boiled over and rushed back into the kitchen to save the dinner. Right when she had put the cutting board back on the counter and gathered all vegetables from the sink, another person took the knife.

"Go after him," Jiahao said. "I'm sure it was just a misunderstanding, but it would be better to clear it up." With a look at Shiho, who had also come to this room, he added: "Let us worry about the food."

Luna stood there for a second, her eyes cast down. She was fully aware of the others' eyes on her and she knew that they were thinking things along the lines of: 'What did she do to him? Bad vampire. It's your fault. Why are you still hesitating?'

 _Why are you hesitating? You can see how that person is changing. Or is he just revealing his true colors? Anyway you have to act … or watch how humanity is being destroyed._

Luna whirled towards the door and sped outside. It barely took her a second to notice in which direction the other vampire was running and she tracked him down.

* * *

A few days ago the locals had shown his family this cliff and they had spent a memorable evening grilling up there and watching the sun set. Mika huddled at the foot of a tree, trying to calm himself down. Even though his heart wasn't beating, he could feel the adrenalin rushing through his body.

He was afraid and ashamed and a bit angry at himself. He was angry for losing control like that. It wasn't like him! Even when the scent of blood when the girls had their days didn't stir any feelings in him! If Luna told them what had happened, would they fear him again? Would they call him a monster now?

The sound of someone approaching startled him. Mika sprang up and grabbed for his sword, only to find it not hanging on his belt. Of course he was unarmed! There wasn't anything dangerous here.

'Damn!'

"Boo!"

Suddenly there was this noise behind him and he threw his elbow back to hit whatever snuck up on him.

"Ouch." The vampire girl had fallen down and was now rubbing her red cheek.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Mika demanded to know.

"Isn't it obvious? I'm looking for you. The others think that I said something to make you angry," she said with a grin. Then her eyes went softer and more serious. "I'm sorry."

"It wasn't your fault," Mika said in a monotone voice and with shaded eyes.

"No, I should have been more careful-"

Mika clenched his teeth and interrupted her: "I said it wasn't your fault!"

"Okay." She pushed herself back until her back pressed against a tree's bark and stretched her hand out at Mika.

"What?" He asked after a short silence.

"I'm offering you my blood."

Mika scrunched his nose. "I don't want it!"

"You're lying," Luna said with a singsong voice.

"It is forbidden for a vampire to drink another vampire's blood."

Luna crossed her arms in front of her. "Who said that? Queen Krul didn't teach you anything, did she?" Then she sighed. "Listen. It's a matter of favors. You drink a vampire's blood and you owe them. This debt can also be transferred to your sire. That's all. The progenitors just hate it when their underlings owe each other."

"So you wanted Krul or me to be in your debt?" Mika snarled.

"Don't be stupid. I owe the Queen my life!"

For a second the blond vampire was shocked: "Krul turned you?"

"There are more ways to save someone's life than turning them into immortals Mika." She pushed herself up and brushed herself off. "We should go back before they think we killed each other. Anyway the offer still stands."

* * *

Nobody asked Mika about him running off. Maybe they felt it was something personal, but the vampire really believed that at least Yu would say something. Lying here in the pitch-black tent he found himself unable to sleep. Concentrating on Yu's calm breathing did not help. Mika's mind was running, asking one question after another. What would tomorrow bring? How would the town be like? Could he really become a human again? What were the people like? What would he have to do or sacrifice to become normal again? How did they organize their lives and who had to do what? What would happen to him once he became a human again? Would he join the army and help exterminating the vampires? If he lived long enough to see Japan vampire-free, would the Demon Army invade the continent? Would he have to fight against Luna?

Mika slipped into an uneasy sleep until his brother shook him awake. "Good morning sleepy-head! We have to pack up the tent now, but you can sleep in the car. Sorry." Yu's smile was even brighter than the sun. The black haired boy helped his still half asleep brother into the locals' van, where Mika promptly fell asleep again. He didn't even notice how everyone else squeezed in too.

The fact that all people and the fish fit into the van was a miracle on itself. It was not build for that kind of thing. Granted, it was a big van, at least 1.8 meters wide and seven meters long, but space was finite. Also it did not have a conventional engine. Oil was expensive and economy was still not working the way it did before. Instead of a front seat it had a bicycle-like contraption. Everything was reinforced so that a vampire could move this entire vehicle with their vampire power up to speeds of 100km/h. Added to this motor was a dynamo, which produced the electricity necessary for cooling the fish (and the passengers), using the radio and for the lights.

Needless to say that the family had a small conventional car too, incase Jiahao had to go somewhere alone.

The first part of their trip consisted of driving through a dense forest. Surprisingly the roads were in a very good condition. The soft twilight lulled the humans back to sleep. Yu was snoring away with his head on Mika's shoulder, who in turn leaned his own head on his adoptive brother's head.

Halfway through the forest Shinoa sleepily asked where they were and Jiahao answered: "We'll be at the highway in fifteen minutes and then it's just two hours to the City." The purple haired girl just made a "Mhm"- kind of noise and buried herself in her blanket again before she leaned against Yu.

Luna liked the forest. Of all the biomes on this planet she preferred the woods even over the grasslands of Australia. They provided shade and nutrition to many small animals and some big ones. Personally the vampire wouldn't mind a world made up of some villages and an infinite amount of trees.

Out of nowhere the drive-up to the highway appeared ahead of them. Luna changed gears and pedaled up effortlessly. Unlike the super-large highways of USA this one had two lanes going in both directions. The vampire frowned at the plants that were growing on the asphalt.

"Maybe we should ask someone to take care of the road," Luna suggested.

"Hm … It doesn't look that bad. Maybe next year," her dad decided and the girl nodded in agreement.

"I am just scared that in an emergency we can't act because our roads are broken."

Jiahao just tousled her hair. "You worry too much."

After half an hour the other passengers were finally waking up and ate breakfast.

"What's this 'City' like?" Mitsuba asked between some bites.

"It's pretty big, I think," Jiahao said. "I mean area-wise. There aren't many skyscrapers or so and the government is still not in agreement on where to build the public transportation-system. At least we have a train station connected to the trans-Siberian Railway."

"Sorry, I am changing the topic. Does anyone mind if I play some music?" Luna asked out of the blue. No one did mind and she inserted a CD into the radio.

"Wait, that's a radio?" Mitsuba was amazed. "It's so small."

"Don't you guys have radios too?" Jiahao asked, stroking his chin.

"The JIDA confiscated many devices, phones, television and such, because they are being used for communication within the army," Shinoa said with a sad tint in her voice.

"Ah! I remember that Guren has something similar," Yu exclaimed. "The thing where you put the bigger black CD on and the music comes out of the horn like thing."

"That's a gramophone," Shinoa explained.

"I thought it was called a phonograph or record player," Shiho said and Yoichi asked: "Are you talking about a vintage turntable?"

Luna gave a little laugh. "It's the very same."

"Did you meet Edison once?" Yoichi asked the vampire excitedly. "I mean, you are old enough!"

"No. I kind of missed him. I can't be in all places at the same time." Suddenly the vampire spotted a shape on the highway and it most certainly did not belong to a car. "What the heck?! Sorry I need to concentrate."

She slowed down. The shape turned into multiple animals and when they came closer they noticed that there was an entire herd of Sika-deers. The white spotted herbivores just stood there blocking the road and they most definitely were not afraid of cars. They just looked at it like idiots.

"Hey! Get off the road!" Luna shouted and used the horn. The deer didn't move at all. "Oh by … vampires aren't respected anymore."

Then her dad gave a shout and the deer bolted. "There you go, oh big and scary vampire," he teased her. Luna just shook her head and resumed driving.

When they were closing in on the City cars became more numerous. Some were normal cars, others were painted in various (and sometimes very ... 'interesting ways', like neon orange with neon pink swirls) and others were pretty rundown. Still this traffic was not comparable to the traffic in metropolises before the virus. Even though most drivers were pretty young or had taught themselves everyone drove carefully and kept to the rules.

To increase the parking space the citizen had carved out huge underground parking lots. They had kept most of the ground-level parking space too, but it was for guests only. Most of the houses were single-family houses built in European-style or three story apartment complexes which were completely overgrown by some kind of climbing plant.

Close to a park Luna drove into a parking lot and motion-initiated lights illuminated the cavern. Unlike a normal parking lot, which was like a huge hall, the parking lots in the City were like smaller interconnected rooms. When the people had built them, they took into account the trees or the weight of the houses over them. Luna reversed the car into their parking space.

"We're here."

Everyone hopped out and stretched their legs. Then they got the luggage, Luna took the cooling bags with the fish and Jiahao locked the car and held the door for everyone. Back on the surface they stood in front of a big house with many solar panels on its roof.

"We're not living here. Come on," Luna encouraged them to follow her. They took a short walk through the park. "Well, it's not exactly a park. This is a bungalow complex, so there are many smaller houses dispersed over this entire area."

The group stopped in front of a vanilla-yellow house and Jiahao unlocked the door. "Come in. It might get a bit cramped." The bungalow was purposed for three people and not for nine. It had two sleeping rooms, a living room, a kitchen and bathroom/toilet. All in all it had about 100m2 of living space.

"I call dibs on the couch," Shinoa shouted out.

Shiho whirled around and shouted back: "No calling dibs! We'll draw straws!"

Strangely enough the straws didn't care if they paired up guys and girls to sleep together, so the teenagers had to solve this problem by using logic and Yoichi was quite buys to stop everyone from fighting. In the end they reached an acceptable agreement. The girls would be sleeping in Jiahao's double bed. The guys decided to place their camping mats on the floor next to the couch. Luna's dad would sleep in her bed and Luna would sleep in front of the house in a beach chair. She quite content with it since it was reasonably warm and it also allowed her to just stand up and go out without waking anyone.

"Are you finished yet?" Luna asked. While the people got settled she had already changed into her 'City clothes', a yellow knee-long sleeveless dress and sandals, and let her hair down from its usual tail and made two trips taking fish from the house to the store they owned. Granted the store was barley five minutes away by foot.

"Yes. Sorry for the wait," Shinoa said. Since this day was a bit cloudy and the wind had picked up too, they had to dig out warmer clothes from their backpacks.

"Okay! Let's go! See you later dad!" Luna called out and they started making their way to the center of the City.


	6. Chapter 6

**Note:** Some details in this chapter are a bit gruesome and I really hope I didn't mess up the rating (T). Also in one paragraph I mentioned religion. I hope I didn't get the real-life facts too wrong.

* * *

The library was probably the strangest building out of all. Due to its front made of blackish glass it looked very recent but when the group entered the anteroom they stepped into an older world. Everything, from the red carpet to the shelves and chairs, looked like it was at least a century old. The woman who sat at the counter was no exception. With her deep wrinkles and white hair she would have looked like a perfect grandmother, if not for her stern expression and impeccably ironed white blouse.

"Miss Wang," the old woman spoke with authority like a queen.

"Ma'am." Luna actually curtsied. "I'd like to request library passes for my friends. They are visiting from Japan and want to learn more about vampires."

The woman started tapping on her computer's keyboard. "Seven persons. Should I add access rights to your archives too?"

When Luna nodded, Yue added a few things and behind her the printer started working. While it printed Yue said: "Listen up! You are not allowed to eat or drink in the library. You are not allowed to take books with you without checking them out. You may borrow a book for as long as two weeks. You may drink the water from the faucets in the bathrooms." She got up and took the papers from the printer and ripped them into smaller rectangles each with a library card on it. She gave the cards to the kids and added: "Of course you will not put your shoes on the chairs or tables. You will not run in this house. You will not slide down the stairs' rails."

Luna flinched at that. The vampire girl's face was now pretty red. "Are you trying to humiliate me? Anyway, thank you. We'll be going then."

Sending a pointed glare at the girl, Yue said: "You will not sing or recite poetry loudly."

"We were rehearsing for a play!"

"By singing 'Row, Row, Row your boat'?"

Luna already walked over to the stairs. "Why not? See ya!" Then she jumped down to the next level. On the ground-level the elderly woman was shouting: "Don't jump the stairs!"

As they walked down the girl could see the Japanese staring. "This place is huge!" Mitsuba exclaimed.

Luna shrugged: "Guess so. I mean there aren't that many libraries anymore. To the north we have Yakutsk and Okhotsk, to the east Sapporo, to the west Changchun and to the south Seoul. On second thought I don't think Yakutsk counts. They mainly collect magazines."

"But why would Okhotsk have one? Isn't it a very small city?" Mitsuba asked.

"Most vampires are nostalgic. There is always a place they will return too," Luna answered and the blonde nodded. "I understand."

For a few seconds they walked in silence until Yu said: "I don't get it."

Before Luna could even take a breath, Mitsuba said: "Okhotsk was the port from which most Russian fur traders were leaving for Alaska. They hunted sea otters until they almost died out."

The others stared at the girl spellbound. "What?! So I like history? And?!" said person blushed furiously.

"Woah, it's okay. We were just a bit surprised," Shiho tried to calm her down.

"Are the sea otter extinct now?" Mirai asked and Mitsuba shook her head: "The countries placed a ban on hunting them about 1911."

Luna added: "Alexey Baranov, he was the first governor of Russian America, tried to reduce the hunting quotas even before that."

"Is there anyone you don't know?" Mitsuba asked when the vampire called the man affectionately 'Alexey'.

"Meh. A lot of people. You can't be everywhere at the same time."

"What kind of person was he?"

"A midget, a crybaby, very driven and very altruistic. He used his own money to build schools and hospitals and had his family not lied to him about the statue of him in Moscow he would never have left."

Then she shook her head as if to shake of the ghosts of the past. "Anyway all of our vampire related scientific and history books are on this level. There is a number on the first page of each book. It's the number of the level followed by the number of the shelf. Please put each book back where you've taken them from. The archives are one level deeper. With the barcode on the back you can open the shelves that belong to me. My name's on them, so it should be no problem to find them. Then, here I have I map of the city for you. I marked the library, our house and the school where I'll be most of the time. Any questions?"

The visitors shook their heads.

"Okay. Then I'll get going. If there's anything I could help you with, just ask. Or you could ask Yue. See ya!"

The vampire sprinted off taking two steps each stride and the teenagers go to work. They collected all books that looked like they were written in a language they could read. This wasn't the easiest job since they could read only Japanese, Latin and English, but the books were mostly written in Russian, Latin and English. A few were written in Chinese (Mandarin), Korean and some western languages the soldiers could not identify. Although they could only comprehend a fraction of the available books, the total amount was still staggering.

Sadly, they soon found out that there wasn't a single book on how to turn vampires back into humans and they had no choice but to skim over every text they had found for usable information. Still, they had little luck.

It was quite interesting to learn history from a vampire's point of view, but none of the books went further back than 10.000 B.C.E. Seriously, you can't call a book a history book if it doesn't explain where vampires come from!

"At least we now know that vampires go back a long time. Maybe they evolved beside the humans," Shinoa tried to cheer her weary friends up.

Mitsuba huffed. "Shinoa, vampires are magical creatures. They defy some laws of nature. They couldn't have evolved naturally."

"Well, then maybe it's time to hit the biology books," Yoichi suggested.

These books weren't more informative either. Well, _informative_ they were, but about the wrong topic. Some books were accounts of experiments for example one described how physicians operated on a vampire and removed his organs and waited how long it would take for them to regenerate. Others were on how do the amount of blood drunken correlate with the amount of blood lost or on how much of a vampire's blood it took for a human to transform.

Suddenly Mirai excitedly said: "Guys, I think I found something!"

The others weren't as excited considering how they themselves said the exact same line at least once.

"Are you sure Mirai?" Shiho asked. He took the book she offered him. It was bound in leather and the title was written in black ink. The pages had turned yellow and betrayed its age. "'A vampire's diary on vampires' by L.M.T. We read dozen of those journals already."

"It's different. Read the first pages," Mirai almost growled in frustration. Did they think less of her because she was younger and didn't know Mika as well as the others?

Shiho skimmed the first pages and then said: "She's right. This will help us."

"Of course I'm right," Mirai huffed in exasperation. "Read out loud."

Shiho cleared his throat and started reading in a low voice. Even though the book was in older English, the handwriting was neat and made for an easy read. "I'll read the introduction too."

 _" Introduction. _

_I sincerely hope that this book is unneeded, a waste of good paper and ink if you so will. But what I have seen of this world has led me to doubt every man's word about historical accounts. History is written by the victorious. Inconvenient truths are often forgotten and lost._

 _I believe that if I were to die, this part of our history would be forgotten. But our history is part of our existence and this holds true especially for my kind. If my kind were to forget the reason for their existence, they might wipe humankind off the face of this world._

 _The Beginning_ _._

 _Our story is as old as mankind, but its real beginning lies about 75.000 years before the year Jesus Christ was born, if you believe that such a person existed. At that time multiple human subspecies existed. All of them were hunters and gatherers and took only as much as they needed, simply because they couldn't take more. They talked and exchanged their ideas about the world. Alas their simple minds could not begin to understand the laws behind the wonders of nature. Their belief in Gods compensated for their lack of knowledge. With their believes, their religion if you so will, came rituals and in the same way they had discovered cooking or sewing fur-clothes, they found magic._

 _In that time magic was everywhere. It was a vicious circle. Mankind was ignorant and believed in higher powers and their belief fueled the power called magic. They looked for magic and found it, in the same way an optimist can find a silver lining even in the worst of situations. If you look hard enough it will be there._

 _The different clans or tribes (at that time there were thousands of them; each settlement could be considered a clan/tribe of its own) differed in their use of magic and in their religious practices. There were those who considered the power of nature a tool and a resource. And there were those who worshipped magic as a deity, a kind of spirit that lived in everything living, in every man or woman, in every animal form bear to beetle and in every plant. If I think about it, everything must have been their fault._

 _As I've said: Look and you shall find. They believed that the soul of their dead merged with the nature deity. They thought that if you were to hunt an animal for sport and did not perform the proper rituals, its spirit would haunt you and bring ill fortune. They thought of nature and magic as a god and thus it became one._

 _The times changed and the clans that used magic like any other resource prospered and expanded their territory, mostly peaceful but they did not eschew violence. Do not think of them as one people. They speak different languages, have different traditions and were only similar in their believes and those were as different as the three main monotheistic religions of today."_

"Sorry to interrupt, but what are those religions?" Yuu asked.

Shinoa answered: "Judaism, Christianity and Islam. They all believe in one God only. Each religion has a primary text or teachings. For the Jew it's mainly the Tanakh and other supplemental texts; for the Christians it's the Old and New Testaments and for the Muslims it's the Quran. They differ in their view on religious or traditional aspects and so on."

"Got it."

Shiho went on: _"While most of them were peaceful, there were also radical groups that believed in their superiority. Aggressively they attacked other tribes, set fire to their tents, killed, raped and enslaved. The other tribes seldom retaliated. They saw the attacks as punishment from their god and never understood the violent nature of these people._

 _Our story starts with a young girl who survived the raid on her settlement and, after having witnessed unspeakable horrors, managed to find her way to another clan similar to hers. She must have fallen in love with a man for she became pregnant and gave birth to a daughter, who was doted on by both of her parents. Unlike now females were not regarded as lesser beings, although there were 'typical female activities' like staying home and doing housework like sewing clothes. Some women went hunting with men. Some men stayed home once their children were not depending on the mother for food anymore._

 _Anyway this girl regarded her good fortune as blessing from God. She often practiced the rituals, more often than it was required too. But every night she was tortured by nightmares. Sadly the madmen found this settlement too. As the family was fleeing the man was trapped by magic-controlled roots and burned by fire. It must have been a shock for the woman to see the raiders use magic, the blessing of their god. She reached the most important ritual cave with her child and thought herself save. She spent so much time here praying to her god and even now she was arranging the herbs for a ritual to ask for forgiveness for whatever she had done wrong. As the herbs were burning the killers reached the cave, snatched her infant and trapped the woman's hand and feet within stone. Then they shook the child taking pleasure in her pained cries. They partly burned her, then chilled her with ice before filling her lungs with water. The girl tried to breath while suffocating from inside._

 _The scent of burnt herbs filled the room and the woman, instead of begging for forgiveness and the salvation of her child, cursed the entire human race. Upon them she wished fire that fell from the sky, a mountain of salt that would kill all fish, poisoned rivers and springs, darkness that lasts for days and kills most plant-life, beasts that would torment any human being for eternity, a plague so deadly that it would spread unnoticed killing indiscriminately and finally thunder, earthquake and hail that would wipe them off the face of this world._

 _There is nothing stronger than the hate of a mother. She wished death on every man, woman and child and died as a sacrifice, as a token of power. And she believed that there was nothing more powerful than a human soul, thus there was nothing more powerful and her curse plagued the world._

 _The conclusion_ _._

 _In the face of a common enemy and the necessity for survival the humans joined together and devised a spell that would seal away all magic and the woman's curse with it. But they needed power and they needed for the curse to manifest in one location. So they journeyed to the biggest active volcano of their time. It is now known as the Toba Lake situated in Sumatra. There they sacrificed infants while their parents were praying for their children's salvation by the 'Revenge God' or 'Avenger'. The volcano exploded and in the middle of chaos the humans captured the Avenger's core and performed a ritual._

 _The core split into seven pieces each containing a part of the curse and a part of the woman's personality. The seven pieces were implanted into seven people and each was granted the power of one aspect of the curse, for example the progenitors of the Parthe Family has powers concerning salt._

 _Those seven people later were called the First Progenitors. But the power, the madness, of the fragments was too great and continued to take a toll on the Progenitors. From time to time they have to be replaced. The Progenitors burden can also be shared with others through a blood bond and so the vampire race began."_

* * *

For Luna the day had been pleasant. She had attended a lecture on Quantum mechanics and one lesson in Hindi. Sadly the girl had little aptitude for languages, but she considered it to be exciting to learn a language. Suddenly there were so many more books she could understand! After that she gave a lecture on agriculture in Ancient Rome and one on the Battle of Austerlitz.

Finally she could go to her little room. There was just enough space for a desk, a couch and some bookshelves. Actually Luna was going to translate some books, but then she saw the person writhing in pain on her couch.

"You don't look too good," she told the poor silver haired male.

"Oh, gee Sherlock. What gave it away?" Dmitri replied with sarcasm and the asked: "Could you heat up the hot water bottle?"

"Sure." The vampire took the rubber bottle and palmed it from one hand to the other concentrating on the sloshing sound of water and imagining it to become warmer, like a summer day or a hot spring or pavement in the summer sun.

She gave it back to the man asking: "Is this about right?"

The human tucked it quickly beneath his shirt above his abdomen. "Yes. Thanks."

Luna moved the couch so she could sit at her desk and Dima could put his head in her lap.

"Maybe I should try to get you some painkillers again," she said more to herself than him, tugging gently at his white hair.

"It's okay … as long as you heat my water bottles," he chuckled. "I'm serious Luna! Don't go into hibernation while I'm still alive okay?"

"I won't."

The human sighed, satisfied and Luna typed away on her computer. If you thought that a vampire would be a fast typist, then you'd be mistaken. Luna had spent eighteen centuries writing with her hand and only about one century learning how to type. It took her quite some time to translate a book, especially since she could only work when she was in town.

Just when she thought Dima had finally fallen asleep he asked: "Do vampires bleed?"

"No we don't, at least not monthly. Why?"

"Can you turn me into a vampire?"

"No!" Luna said forcefully. "We've been there already. I won't turn you."

"Oh. Okay, I guess." Dima shuffled to get more comfortable. Soon his breath became regular and after a few minutes he even started snoring softly. Luna hummed the tune of an old Pitjantjatjara lullaby.

Suddenly the door flew open and a few very excited looking Japanese soldiers stumbled in. Before they could even say a word, Luna shushed them pointing at her sleeping friend. They smiled embarrassed and quietly crossed the room.

"Do you know this book?" Shinoa asked as she put the old leather-bound book down.

The vampire took it, examined it closely and skimmed over the pages. "I don't remember … I always liked to collect books."

"You're lying," Mirai stated and Shiho immediately hissed her name, but the small girl was unfazed. "There were many books by that author in your _personal_ shelf. You must have moved these after the virus and since you had only limited space and many books, you would have to select which books you wanted to bring here."

The group stared at the red haired girl in amazement and Luna smiled, but it never reached her eyes: "Haha … that is a possible conclusion. Or maybe someone selected these books for me to read. Or maybe I forgot about it with so much going on." The way she said this and the glint in her eyes made her look a lot like a certain silver haired vampire nobody likes and Mika actually flinched.

Suddenly a sleepy voice interjected: "No."

The girl's creepy smile vanished. Suddenly she looked very tired. "You're right, sorry. I'll try harder."

"No," Dima said again, still fast asleep, and Luna answered: "You're not helpful." Then she took a breath. "Anyway it's late so let's go home." Suddenly she was again the strange humanlike vampire.

While Luna was shutting down the computer, Mirai asked: "So what about the book?"

"Hm, oh, I wrote that."

"You did?" Yu shouted the loudest. "Then what's the M and T for?"

"That's a secret," the vampire said putting a finger to her lips. She carried Dmitri bridal style and complained: "Damn you're heavy. Can someone hold open the door for me?"

Yoichi who was closest to the door held it for everyone.

Just as the group had left the building Luna asked: "Could you go on first?" The others gave her a questioning look. "Well, I have to get useless here home." She nuzzled the albino's head.

"Are you trying to avoid interrogation about that book?" Mitsuba inquired.

"Haha, why do you think that?" The vampire avoided to look anyone in their eyes.

'I knew it!' was going through the Japanese kids' heads.

Shinoa placed one of her hands on the vampire's shoulder and squeezed it. "Hm, didn't you promise to help us with turning Mika back into a human?"

"Oh, did I?" Luna furrowed her brows. "Can't remember. Okay, I promise on … on … anyway won't run, 'kay? Later!" And there she went, rushing as fast as possible away form that scary purple haired girl.

Said girl blinked wide eyed. "Is she running away from me?"

"Well, obviously. Who else has the aura of a demon?" Mitsuba asked half-mockingly.

The shorter girl spread her arms and laughed in triumph. "Hahaha, I the great Shinoa have successfully driven away the terrible vampire! Now bow before me peasants!"

A chorus of voices answered her: "You wish!"


	7. Chapter 7

When Luna came back the other teenagers were sitting outside and eating their dinner. Luckily for them, the weather had cleared up and it wasn't that cold anymore.

"Why are you sitting outside?" Luna asked.

"There wasn't enough space inside," Shinoa answered with a slight smile. "Anyway, don't you have a promise to keep?"

Luna plopped down beside the lavender haired female. "Right. So what do you want to know? I can't tell you a lot since I was paid to write it, so it's not really my book."

"So you don't know if it's the truth? The history of the vampires I mean."

"Oh, no. That is what happened, approximately," the vampire answered. She stared into space. What was she thinking about? Or was she remembering something?

"Then what are the facts _you_ know to be true?" Shinoa inquired.

"There were multiple human subspecies. Sometimes they mingled, sometimes they killed each other. The vampires came to be about 75 thousand years ago. There are seven First progenitors and all of them are really powerful. I mean if they wanted to they could wipe out humanity in a year top. All of them have different powers. Your rank and power depends on who turned you into a vampire, how much blood you ingested from them or another high-ranking progenitor and your age."

Luna smiled and for a second Shinoa was reminded that the person next to her was not a teenage girl, but a millennia old immortal.

Suddenly Mirai asked: "What do the initials stand for? L for Luna, but the M and the T?"

"Whatever you want it to be. I prefer Luna Mein Trottel or Luna Medicus Tuus."

The group looked at her as if she was crazy and Mirai chided the older girl: "It's okay if you don't want to tell us, but don't lie to us."

"Sorry," the vampire's shoulders slumped.

Silence.

The only one unaffected by the heavy atmosphere was Yu. He had finally eaten up and was ready to ask the really important questions: "That's nice and all, but how is it going to help turning Mika back into a human?"

"Use your brain for once-" "Hey!" "If you don't understand the basics and the origin of curses and spellcraft you can't do anything," Shiho continued without minding Yu's interruption.

"I wonder how much blood it takes for a human to turn. Maybe it depends on the human," Yoichi mused.

"Hm. Luna … eh?" Shinoa looked around. The girl had just been here. Nobody had noticed her leaving or that she took the plates with her.

"Creepy," Mitsu muttered obviously referring to the vampire's ability to just vanish without a sound.

"Hey, Mika's gone too," Yu commented.

The typical 'Shinoa grin' spread on the short girl's face. "I know what's going on!"

The others made big questioning eyes. What were they missing?

"Mitsu won't you help me explain these innocent cherry boys what the deal is?" At Shinoa's teasing grin Mitsu's brain cells started digging up memories and suddenly she understood and blushed.

"The hell I will! Explain it yourself!"

"Ouch, Mitsu is so cruel to me," Shinoa teased. "A young lonely vampire who likes humans meets another vampire like him. The only things they have in common are vampirism and their affection for the mortals and fascinated by each other they slowly fall in love." To accompany her last sentence Shinoa made a heart shape with her hands.

Mitsuba buried her face in her hands and Yoichi gave a small laugh.

"Eh?" Yu blushed. "Wha-what … Mika's not like that!"

"It would explain a lot," Mirai dead-panned, but her brother disagreed: "I'm not really sure-"

"You tell them Shiho!" Yu agreed with the tall boy.

"Heh, really? Then why did they go off together alone~?" Shinoa asked grinning from one ear to the other.

"Stop it Shinoa," Mika's calm voice came from the door, where the blond had appeared. "We were just brining the plates away. Luna said there was a gym where you can train with swords nearby and we were going to check it out now."

"Is this a date or so?" Shinoa asked but Mitsuba said over her friends head: "And why didn't you think about asking if we wanted to come too?"

"Mitsu we need to give those young lovers a bit of space. Or … maybe are you jealous?"

"Jealous my ass! Shut up Shinoa!"

"But seriously why didn't you tell us?" Yu asked. He knew that Mika and he were not joined at the hip and both of them were responsible and independent almost-adults, but his brother choosing the company of a vampire over his family even though he could have both was very strange.

Mika knew no answer to that question. It had been a spur of the moment thing when he agreed to visit the gym with Luna. They were right, of course, but something told him it be annoying if they came along.

"Because you humans should not exercise right after dinner and because you need more sleep than us," a cheery voice sounded from behind Mika. "You should wait an hour before exercising or you might feel nauseous."

For training Luna had actually a special outfit designed for battle: a long-sleeved black shirt and a sleeveless cherry red vest with a yellowish embroidered dragon on it; long dark red pants and combat boots. Her sword hung on her belt. Since Luna normally didn't do any difficult training at home she kept the outfit minus sword at the city. Now looking back, she should have taken it home with her the last time they were in the city.

"So Miss Leader, when should I bring Mika back home?" Luna impatiently shifted her weight from one foot to another.

Shinoa smirked. "Don't worry. Take your time!"

The vampire cocked her head and looked at the others. "Huh? What's up with her?"

Mitsuba shook her head and said with a strained voice: "Don't mind her. Just get going!"

The vampire was still a bit confused, but shrugged it off. Her smile returned to her face. "Okay. Bye-bye!" And with that she ran away.

"Later then." Mika immediately sprinted off too. "Hey, wait up!" he called out.

"No! You keep up!" the other vampire shouted back.

Yu looked after them dumbfounded and Shinoa couldn't contain her glee any longer. "See! Just like I told you! Poor Yu. How does it feel to be only second place in Mika's life?"

"Huh? I'm not second place," the boy said with a sour expression. "He doesn't even know her that well."

Shinoa jumped up. "I guess this calls for a secret operation."

"Not with me," Mitsuba interrupted her friend. "I want to go to sleep early and take a shower."

"I'll hit the hay early too," Shiho said and his sister had already such small eyes that you could call her asleep.

"I guess that leaves Yu, Yoichi and me," Shinoa said and Yu asked: "I don't get what this special mission is about?"

"I thought I made that clear." Shinoa held her index finger up. "We are going to spy on the two vampires!"

"I don't think Mika will like that."

"That's the point of staying hidden."

"No, I'll pass," Yu said and stood up.

"B-but why?" Yoichi asked.

"If it were something important, Mika would tell me. I don't want to intrude on his personal life."

"Yu is surprisingly thoughtful," Yoichi murmured.

"Huh? What's that supposed to mean?" Yu half-shouted at the smaller boy who raised his hand in defense. "Anyway do what you want. I'll go brush my teeth."

Shinoa sighed. "So it's just the two of us now … unless you want to chicken out too."

"W-well, Yu has got a point, doesn't he?" Yoichi stuttered but he hoped that Shinoa would try to convince him.

He was a bit disappointed when she said: "Right. He does know Mika better than all of us. I guess we have to trust Yu's judgment."

And with that the special operation 'spying on Luna and Mika' was over before it even begun.

* * *

Mika was glad to enter the empty training hall. To get there they had to pass through the rest of the gym, which had been occupied by humans and most of them had openly stared at him. Only when he had looked each of them dead in the eyes and gave them a death glare they went back to training.

"There were only humans."

"Hm?"

"I said 'there were only humans'. Don't the vampires train too?" He repeated himself.

"What are they supposed to train for?" Then Luna spread her arms. "And we're vampires too and are here for training, right? Anyway you don't have to be afraid of going all out. This room is enchanted. It could contain a small scale explosion. Now then-" she drew her sword. "en garde!"

Mika didn't move an inch. "Are you sure about the walls?"

Luna narrowed her red eyes. Then she turned around and her sword gleamed red. For a second the area where she hit the wall shone red too and faded out.

She turned back to the younger vampire. "See! Nothing-"

Suddenly Mika sprang forward and Luna parried this hit within a hair's breath.

"Unfair," she complained.

Mika smirked slightly. "He who strikes first."

The jumped apart and Luna sped at him. Mika blocked her sword above his head, but the girl had already dropped low and pulled his legs form underneath him. Mika landed with a 'thump' on the ground.

"You won't win like that." She offered her hand and pulled him back up.

Again they traded blows. Blocking or avoiding her blade was easier know, but every single time Luna struck a high blow and Mika blocked it she would go for his legs and every single time the boy landed on his butt.

"Start fighting like a girl. On the battlefield only the result counts."

Mika pressed his jaws against each other. "What's that supposed to mean? You don't even use a sword technique," he hissed.

"Ex-actly," Luna said. "Break my arm or leg or cut them off. Break my neck. Anything goes in war, except for bioweapons or gas. That's really ugly. If you want to survive then fight dirty."

Mika looked at her with wide eyes. "You want me to break your arm?"

Luna sighed. "If had worse, actually. Just go for my arm as if you wanted to break it. You don't need to hurt me. I'll know when I have to give up. This is training. Out there you have to take anything you're given. And if it means gouging your opponent's eyes out, then for damn's sake do it. And I shouldn't have said that," she added at Mika's disgusted look.

Then she shrugged. "I'll teach you a counter. Attack me from above."

The swords clashed. "Now go for my legs."

For a second Mika hesitated. The girl had a wide stance. Mika turned just a bit to get the right angle. Suddenly the pressure against his sword lessened and a fist connected with the side of his head.

"Number one: Hit the head." Luna sounded abnormally cheerful.

"Are you going for my eyes next?" Mika asked rubbing his cheek. The pain was already subsiding.

"Who do you take me for? Ferid? Come on. It's you turn."

Luna attacked extra slow and as expected she felt a fist hit her head. Well, touch her head was more like it.

"Well, it's a start. Let's try it a few more times," she suggested.

They repeated this move, steadily going faster until Mika unintentionally punched Luna hard enough to make her head snap back.

Mika stepped back and held his arms out, just barley not touching the other vampire. It was pretty cute, Luna thought. Mika was caught between wanting to help and being afraid to hurt her more. "Are you okay?" he asked.

Luna put her hands at both sides of her face and relocated her jaw. The broken bones healed immediately. Carefully she moved her jaw around but the pain was already gone.

"I'm good! Nothing happened." She smiled.

Mika crunched his eyebrows. "I broke your jaw."

"Yeah. And I probably had some fractures in my cranium too." The other vampire shrugged. "Nothing major."

"I'd like to learn something different."

"Aww, are you afraid of hurting me? That's cute."

Mika blushed, not because of the compliment (It was a compliment, wasn't it?), but of the way she looked, like a human gushing over a kitten or another kind of cute animal.

"I want to be able to use this red energy wave or whatever it is," Mika said.

Luna's eyes widened in surprise. "You can do that too? … Of course! Queen Krul is your sire! I'm so stupid." She pinched her nose bridge. "I am not sure how much I can help you with that. It's a thing that happens naturally."

The blond vampire pushed his questions about how Krul was connected to his powers aside and instead asked: "What do you mean with 'naturally'?"

"It's a feeling. The power of emotions." Luna faced a wall, inhaled a deeply and exhaled slowly. "It will start somewhere in your body…" she slowly raised her sword. "-then grow and permeate every cell until it resonates within your heart and brain, until your whole world is filled with this one feeling and then …" Her sword shone and as she slashed downward the red energy shot towards the wall. "Voilá!"

Mika gulped. "This works without giving your weapon blood?"

"Yep. It's just emotions. Of course giving your weapon your blood will make it more responsive."

The younger vampire walked up to stand next to the other, put both hands on his blades' hilt and raised it, ready to strike.

Then he closed his eyes. What would be a good emotion? His protectiveness towards Yu? Probably not. Love was, after all, a gentle feeling, a happy feeling.

Then unbidden Ferid's face appeared before Mika's inner eye and he gripped the sword harder. If he were still human, he wouldn't be able to breathe anymore, because of this rage gripping his heart. Ferid who took advantage of him. Ferid who killed his family. Ferid who used Yu and him as pawns in his game, a game he played to relieve his boredom. That flippant bastard who betrayed everyone when he could gain something from it. Ferid had no loyal bone in his body and no morals in his soul. The only thing important to him was his entertainment!

Mika grinded his teeth and swung his blade downward, expecting a huge wall-shattering wave of energy, but nothing happened. He tried again without success.

"Why?! Why isn't anything happening?!" He screamed.

The other vampire remained completely unimpressed by his outburst or his murderous glare. "Maybe fury is not your emotion," Luna shrugged. "It's different for every vampire. By the way, don't tell anyone from what emotion you get your power or they'll exploit it."

She took a few steps back. "Let's stop here for today. Are you okay or do you want to spar until you've calmed down? Don't worry, I won't get hurt."

Mika barely managed to nod. Rage was still cursing through his blood and made it hard to think. He felt the need to break something, maybe a vase or a stool. Hopefully a little sparring session would clear his head.

As soon as Luna held her sword in her hand he jumped at her and sent her flying with one strike. She skillfully evaded his next blow and Mika noted how she chose evasion over parrying his blows. Whenever their sword clashed she was pushed back. A few times Mika managed to send her blade flying but until she could get it back Luna held her own with martial arts only. When his mind cleared up Mika wondered if she had been holding back before when they had been fighting before. Even though now rage was fueling his blows he could not defeat her.

"Better?" Luna asked when the blond man stopped attacking her.

Mika just nodded and sheathed his sword.

"That's good!" Luna slit her palms open with her blade and let it drink her blood.

Mika smelled the sweet iron-like scent of blood and tried not to remember how good her blood had tasted, how warm it had run through his throat and how euphoric it had made him feel. He clenched his hands over his nose trying not to breathe in, but his body longed for blood. Since yesterday he hadn't had a single drop of blood. Maybe he should ask Yu for some.

"Oh, sorry! I didn't think you'd be uncomfortable." Luna's face had a dopey smile on it.

"It repairs when you feed it?" Mika asked his voice muffled by his hands.

"Yep."

* * *

The vampires stepped outside. Only street lanterns illuminated the darkness and it had cooled down noticeably. Most of the windows were already dark.

"Let's go back quickly," Mika said and took a few steps into the direction of the park. Suddenly he noticed that the girl wasn't following him. She just stood there looking into the night sky.

"Luna?"

"Eh?" She looked somewhat startled. "I'm sorry." Her eyes wandered back up into the void. "Hey … can I show you something?"

Mika furrowed his brows. "Can't that wait until tomorrow?"

"No. By then it'll be foggy. I can't stand fog. Brrrr…" She shuddered, but Mika thought it was just a show. Vampires don't get cold.

"Alright, but let's not take too long okay?" The blonde agreed grudgingly.

"Sure." Her smile was odd, a bit melancholic maybe. Mika couldn't quite place that expression.

They jogged up the hills that were bordering the city. The houses started giving way to the forest. The paths were well used so it was easy to walk. For once Mika was actually glad to be a vampire. The trees were only illuminated by the stars and the city. A human couldn't see in that kind of darkness. The two vampires didn't speak. It was a comfortable silence and Luna seemed to enjoy being out here.

Finally they arrived at a lookout point from where they could see the entire city. The streets were clearly defined by the golden light from the street lamps. A stone railing made sure that no human would fall off and stopping just in front of it Luna turned back and asked: "What do you think?"

'What is she talking about?' Mika asked himself. "I don't understand."

"This is my home," Luna said and she wasn't smiling anymore. "And I'm going to protect them."

Mika stayed silent. He looked at the city and a big dark area caught his eye.

"That's the park where your family is staying," Luna said. "Mika … Why didn't haven't you had anything to drink after what happened yesterday?"

"How did you know?"

Luna wasn't meeting the younger vampires gaze. "I didn't smell any blood. You ought to take care of yourself, you know. You're no help to them half starved."

"I hate drinking their blood. It hurts them!" Mika snarled.

Luna blinked owlish. Then she sighed. "That's why I hate your kind." She slowly raised her hand and tousled Mika's soft hair. "You Michaels are always so selfless and self-deprecating to the point where you desire to carry the weight of the world on your shoulders and refuse to share your burden with others. But we are just small people on our own, you know. Alone we can't do a thing."

Mika swatted her hand away. "I know that."

"Really? Then why do you not act like it? Why do you push your family away?" Luna's voice tinted with anger. "Stop behaving like a little brat!"

"I don't want to hurt them!" Mika shouted back. "But you wouldn't understand! You're weak! If some high-ranking progenitor would come to take your family away you wouldn't be able to stop them! But I can! I need to be! Or else … Yu will …"

"Yu will use that monster inside of him … Oh don't look so shocked. Of course I know. Actually Dima told me … I'm kinda bad with magic." Luna sighed and mumbled: "So … I'm weak, huh?"

"Was that all? Can we go now?" Mika snarled angrily. Luna and her albino friend knew Yu's secret! Who else did they tell? He had to get back fast! What if that bloodsucker had lured him out here so her allies could capture Yu and hand him over to the progenitor council?

"Hold your horses. We're not done yet."

"Shut up! I'll go back to Yu!" Mika shouted and tried to leave, but Luna grabbed his elbow.

"And what if you happened upon a hurt citizen? Answer me Mikaela Hyakuya, can you truthfully say that you will not lose reason and attack them? I told you, I'll protect my people!"

Mika looked down at his shoes. It was true. He probably wouldn't be able to hold himself back, but shouldn't humans living with vampires have more sense than to go outside at night and get themselves hurt?

"Ha! Thought so."

When the female vampire hugged him Mika could smell the scent of sea and washing powder clinging to her clothes and a different smell, like burning wood.

"A snowflake is a tiny thing, Mika, but thousands and thousands of them can cover continents. It's okay to be weak."

The contact felt soothing and for a second the blond forgot his worries and relaxed. Then his burning throat called him back to reality. 'I'm offering you my blood,' she had said. 'Anyway the offer still stands.'

He hoarsely whispered "I'm sorry" before biting down. The blood in his mouth was cold, unlike Yu's, and more viscous, but it tasted delicious infused his body with strength. The more he drank the lighter and warmer his body got. He didn't want to stop.

Luckily living with Yu and the others had improved his self-restraint and even though his body screamed for him to continue, Mika retracted his teeth and licked the already closing wound once.

"Are you okay?" Mika's voice was barely more than a whisper. Some when while feeding we must have started to hold Luna, because her grip was weak and she would have fallen, if Mika hadn't held her.

"I guess." She sounded a bit breathless. Her face was probably aflame too, but the boy couldn't see it.

"I'm sorry," he repeated.

"You have nothing to be sorry about. It's natural."

Mika thought about objecting, but with his stomach filled comfortably with blood it was hard to. Instead he slowly extracted himself from their embrace. Luna had gotten paler and wore a slightly befuddled expression on her face. She looked definitively not okay.

Even so she found her way down with ease. Walking through the city was easier because of the street lights and the even ground and they quickly arrived at the bungalow. Mika felt a bit awkward. How do you say 'Good night' to someone you just fed of? He wasn't sure what to make of that new relation.

Unlike the Japanese, Luna did not feel awkward at all. "Good night. Sleep well, Mika."

"Ah … You too." The boy wished for a hole to crawl into. When did existing become so damn embarrassing?

Luna just smiled a sweet smile that had Mika blushing and buried herself in the blankets which Jiahao had left for her on the beach chair.

The front door to the bungalow was unlocked. Either the citizens here were very naïve or the fisherman trusted that his guard dog-daughter would catch any potential burglars. The house was filled with the sound of sleeping breathing humans. Mika carefully picked his way over the dreaming people over to where Yu slept.

Until now his brother had kept to his side of their mats, but just as the vampire had comfortably lain down on his back Yu turned toward the other male slamming his lower arm into Mika's stomach in the process and mumbling angrily about Guren and pudding. Mika carefully rearranged his brother's extremities so he would not have to deal with bony elbows digging into his liver or other organs. Suddenly Yu's expression changed from sleepy annoyance to fear. His breath quickened and he started sweating. Mika pulled the black haired boy closer, entwined the fingers of one of their hands and combed the spikey raven hair with the other.

"It's okay Yu-chan. I'm here. I'll protect you," Mika murmured in his brother's ears hoping he would calm down. At first the vampire thought that these nightmares were that damn demon's fault, but Yu denied that. Instead he told about a beautiful person with an angel's voice, but that godly voice talked only about killing, killing the humans and killing the vampires. Whenever that 'person' noticed that Yu was there, the boy was filled with unspeakable dread and started running and the angel started hunting him down. Sometimes people would step between them. Yu said that sometimes Mika would protect him in his dream which was probably happening whenever Mika tried to calm him down. If it wasn't Mika then Asuramaru would stop the angel. For some reason it could neither touch Mika nor the little demon.

Mika held Yu until the boy calmed down again. Then the vampire snuggled up to his brother and closed his eyes. Maybe they should concentrate on finding a way to remove that angel from Yu instead of finding a cure for his vampirism. Deep in his heart Mika hoped that they could do both, but he wouldn't allow himself to voice that greedy thought. After all it had been his greed that got him turned into a blood sucking monster.

* * *

 _Two girls watched two people fight. They would face each other, concentrating so hard that it seemed like the world had stopped existing for them and then strike faster than lightning. The older sister found it a weird way to fight. She preferred her own almost dance-like European style. The younger sister did not understand her sibling's need for bladed weapons. As high-ranking progenitors they didn't need such playthings._

 _There was aloud sound and one of the swords went flying._

 _"I did it," the young boy cheered. "I did it! I sent sensei's sword flying! Did you see it? Did ya?"_

 _"Way to go Ashura," the younger sister shouted and the older applauded._

 _Suddenly a blade was held to Ashura's neck. 'Sensei' had retrieved her sword. "Well done, but you won't win unless you kill your opponent," the woman said her purple eyes twinkling with mirth._

 _"Ehh? Why would I want to kill you sensei? Who would be able to teach me then?"_

 _The woman laughed at the boy's arrogance. He had a point though. Who else would be able to train a young vampire?_

 _She sheathed her sword. "It's getting dark. Let's return home."_

 _Ashura pouted. "Already? Can't we train for a bit more?"_

 _"How about you do a thousand sword strokes when we get home?"_

 _"Tch. How boring."_

 _The four people returned to the estate, where the human woman lived. As the descendant of samurais the woman had learned how to use different blades from the day she could walk and was supposed to be the next head because of her outstanding skill._

 _An attendant greeted them: "Welcome home, Lady Ichinose. I hope you had a good day. Do you have any wounds that need to be treated?"_

 _"I'm home and I am unhurt. Did anything happen while I was gone?" the woman asked while changing her shoes._

 _"Nothing urgent or we would have sent a messenger for you. However two presents have arrived from two very influential young men."_

 _"Again? Can't they stop bothering me?"_

 _The old attendant kept quiet. In her opinion the young lady was lucky to be vied after by two handsome and skilled young men, who were also quite wealthy and influential._

 _Lady Ichinose sighed and ordered: "Bring tea for me and my guests to the eastern yard."_

 _In the yard the young boy started practicing and soon his younger sister would join in, not because she liked swords play but because she liked spending time with her brother._

 _The older sister and the lady Ichinose watched the children train and how Ashura would correct Krul's moves every few minutes._

 _"We will be leaving in a few months' time, in the middle of winter when the weather over the eastern ocean is the most stable." The words tumbled out of the oldest of the vampire siblings' mouth._

 _Lady Ichinose placed her tea cup down. It made a little clinking sound. "I see. Why do you want to leave? Do you not like it here?"_

 _The vampire shook her head. "No, it's not that. One of my friends told me that the other great continent has been discovered by the European empires and kingdoms and they are getting to invade it. I want to go there before the cultures are erased. And my friend is waiting there too."_

 _In the middle of winter the lady Ichinose escorted her friends to a harbor where a ship was waiting for them. When the younger vampires had boarded the older sister turned back and thanked the Japanese woman for her hospitality and for training her younger brother Ashura._

 _When the human tried to be humble the vampire objected. "We are not people who can walk openly in the light like yourself. Instead we can only compare ourselves to criminals, murderers who use the cover of night for their disdainful deeds. But you generously invited us into your house and fed us without demanding anything in return. This is why I'll swear on my pride and life that I will repay you one day and if you die before that day comes I'll stand by your descendants until this debt is repaid."_

* * *

When Luna explains her initials she is clearly lying. Mein Trottel means 'my idiot' in German (Mein = my; Trottel synonym for idiot). 'Medicus Tuus' is Latin for 'your doctor' and again makes no real sense since Luna isn't a physician and can perform first aid at best.

And while I'm here I want to thank the people who have been leaving reviews for me. I'm so glad all the connections do not seem like random plot convenience and I'll try to keep it that way (The current flashback will be of some importance in the next chapter). But if anything looks strange please tell me! The same goes for the personalities of the canon cast. Sometimes I feel like I as author boss them around too much and make them do things that are not like them.


	8. Chapter 8

"What the hell happened to you?" If Dmitri didn't know that vampires can't be hung over, then he would say that Luna looked like she had too much alcohol last night.

"You. Don't. Wanna. Know! Bring the bottle!"

Dima put the small glass bottle containing his blood on the vampire's desk. He just had turned around to look for a glass, when he heard a soft clinking sound. His friend had decided that she didn't need a glass.

"Luna that's gross!"

The vampire placed the bottle on the desk again and closed it. "You don't drink from this bottle anyway!" She buried her face in her arms.

Dima sat beside her and rubbed her back. "Tell me what happened."

"That boy is a brat."

"Who?"

"Mika. I mean," she looked at the human again. "If you have something to protect you need power. And not only does he want to give his power away but he hates himself for having it in the first place. So he wallows around in self-pity and doesn't take care about those around him or himself."

"Sounds just like you."

"Huh?"

"'With great power comes great responsibility,' is what you're always saying. Aren't you also just running away from your responsibilities?" Dima started braiding Luna's long hair.

"I guess we are similar in that regard." Luna took another gulp from the bottle with Dima's blood.

"Did you have him drink your blood?"

"What the hell?! You don't ask something like that!" Luna's face had turned crimson.

The human grinned. "Oh? Why are you blushing? I thought feeding was completely natural?"

The vampire softly boxed the man's shoulder. "You know exactly what feeding feels like, stupid."

"You could have given him some of that," Dima nodded at the bottle.

Luna possessively cradled the bottle. "Mine! Your blood belongs to me!"

"So do my body and soul," Dima replied with a teasing grin.

The vampire boxed his shoulder again. "Nah. Keep that. Your blood is more than enough." She put the flask back on the table and laid down. "I'm gonna sleep for a bit. Ah! You know, Dima …" She looked the other red eyed person in the eye and smiled. "Thank you for being my friend."

The human smiled too and caressed the vampire's cold face. "No. Thank you for being mine."

* * *

"So how long are they going to stay?" Dima asked referring to the Japanese kids. Presently Luna and he were walking towards the library. It was getting darker and the fog had not cleared up at all.

"I don't know. As long as it takes I guess. Tomorrow I want to go with them to the city hall and register them as residents. As much as I liked to there is no way my dad and I can support seven additional people," Luna said with a sigh.

"Yeah. You've got a point there." They arrived at the library entrance. "See you tomorrow?"

Luna hugged the taller person. "Yup. Don't freeze yourself."

"Never," Dima replied and they both chuckled. "Well … have fun."

Luna waved shortly after her leaving friend before stepping in the ancient building. She found the visitors where she had left them on their first day. Apparently they had made this table their base of operations. Yesterday it had been filled with books only, but today there were also some papers with theories written on them. Right now they were debating if Teller's law on zombies would apply to vampires too.

"But vampires are undead too," Shiho argued almost shouting.

Before anyone had opened their mouth Luna said: "Vampires have free will. I have never heard of a zombie displaying anything like that."

"That's what I've been telling the telephone pole for the last five minutes," Yu ranted.

"HUH? What did you say?"

"Anyway," Shinoa began not minding the two squabbling boys. "We tried to combine Teller's theories on reanimation with Ovid's metamorphoses, which did not work at all."

"The problem is that there are only few books on reanimation and Teller's was the most comprehensive one," Mitsuba added.

"I see."

"You didn't understand a word we said right?" Mitsuba inquired.

The vampire shrugged. "Just a little bit. I am not a magician. Especially techniques and theories are difficult for me."

"This is so frustrating!" Yu yelled and ran his hands through his hair.

"How about we stop for today? The books will be here tomorrow too," Yoichi suggested and the others agreed and started putting the books away.

Luna decided to help them a bit. Yu's expression caught her eye. His mouth was a frown and his eyes didn't contain any sparkle of happiness or mischief as they normally did. 'It must be hard,' Luna thought. 'Being so close, yet so far from your goal. All you want is for your family to be happy, poor guy.'

When they left the library the streetlights were the only source of light. The fog was so thick that it seemed like someone had put a ceiling over the whole city.

"Ewww," Luna grimaced. "It's like London out here. Let's hurry."

* * *

Luna stopped at the door of the bungalow. There was a strange sound in the air. 'A chopper?' she asked herself. 'Since when did we have a chopper? Are some vampire officials stopping by again?'

Mitsuba put a hand on the vampires shoulder and pulled her inside. "Get in here! The cold air is coming in."

The vampire rubbed the back of her head. "Sorry."

"So what did you want to talk about with us?" Shiho asked.

"Well," the vampire began fumbling with her sandals trying to get them off. "There is a little problem. Dad and I are soon going back to the coast and I guess you want to stay here, so …"

"You can't afford to support us anymore," Shiho finished her train of thought.

"Yes. Basically yes. So I was thinking that we could get you registered as temporary residents, which would allow you to live and work here."

The atmosphere in the room was heavy. Of course two people could not support a group of nine forever. That was logical. Still ... While the Japanese probably felt a bit ashamed for receiving only without giving it another thought, Luna felt like she failed as a host.

"This is going to be fun!" Shinoa said smiling. She stretched one of her arms up and posed. "I think I'd be very popular as model, don't you think so too?"

Yu and Shiho shared a look that said 'No comment' and Mitsu whacked her friends head. "Stop fooling around!"

"Oww, Mitsu. No won't ever be a model at all. Unlike me you're not cute enough!"

"Shinoa!"

"Help!" Shinoa hid behind Yoichi and the others laughed.

Suddenly Luna blanched. Her eyes grew wide. "No!" she shouted, turned to the door grabbing her sword that was in the umbrella holder and sped outside towards the port. Dima was draining her magic at an unprecedented speed! Her best friend was in deep trouble!

* * *

Like every Wednesday there was a course on water magic at the old port. Formerly it had been one of the busiest ports on the Russian east coast, which meant that now there was a lot of unused space. Like every Wednesday when he was in town Dima went to this course and like every Wednesday it was pretty fun although a bit cold and unlike some other days the man tried not to get wet. After all he had promised not to freeze himself.

Also unlike other Wednesdays a chopper approached the port from southeast. Normally this would have been just a minor note in a diary: "Dear diary, today a chopper landed at the port and two high ranking vampires came to see the mayor. The kids had a lot of fun, but the police had to be there to make sure the progenitors' guards would not harm them."

Apparently it was not a normal Wednesday. Instead of vampires humans stepped out of the machine. They wore a black uniform which made them blend in with the night sky. There were two men and three women.

Dima waved his hand in the air and shouted: "Hey! Over here! Where are you guys from?"

Just when he was able to make out more details of their appearance like their eye colors one of the men shouted out "Vampire!" and they suddenly stepped into a battle formation.

'Maybe they are like Luna's friends,' Dmitri mused and turned around to look for the vampire that startled them to tell him to leave for now. But there was no vampire there!

'What?' Dima had barley time to jump aside when two tigers closed in on him ready to tear him apart. The other citizen started to scream. None of them had ever been in a real battle. They ran away and shouted for the police.

"Hey! I'm hu-," he began but the orange haired woman tried to slash his torso and he just managed to block her with a shield of quartz. The black haired man appeared from the other side and Dima moved away not to get trapped between them closer to the quay's edge, but suddenly a red head appeared behind him. Dima jumped back again into the range of the two sword wielder and narrowly avoided them by creating holes in the cement underneath their feet tripping them.

Suddenly some kunai with strings flew at him from one side and two blue glowing tigers from the other and he knew he would not be able to avoid both.

An arm rammed into his torso and pressed the air out of his lungs. The kunai embedded themselves in the ground and were covered in the tigers' fire.

"You okay?"

Dima tried to catch his breath. "I don't know."

Luna kissed his forehead. "Wait here." She pulled her sword from the scabbard which fell next to her human friend.

The soldiers had reformed their formation. "Now now. Seems like the weaklings stick together." The black haired's voice had an almost teasing quality to it. He would make a great vampire, arrogance and that all.

"Yes," Luna said her red eyes blazing with fury. "Just like you."

They sped away at the same time and when in reach Luna rotated, avoided the demon blade, grabbed the male's arm and threw him with the rotation towards the chopper. The orange haired woman jumped at her but Luna just continued to turn and side stepped her blow. The woman's back was wide open as she lost her balance, but suddenly some kunai and strings were wrapped around the vampire's sword hindering her. The red haired woman tried to punch her but Luna just threw her over her shoulder at the sword wielding girl.

The black haired guy was back again and the vampire barely avoided being stabbed. She blocked his sword with her own and in one fast motion wrapped the katana in the strings that were holding her own blade captive. He clicked his tongue let go of the sword and put a spell on her head, but before he could incantate it the leaf burned up. Shocked the man jumped back and with a mighty heave Luna pulled the short woman holding the kunai strings into her superior. She lost control of her demon weapon and Luna's sword came free just in time to slice two white tigers. Behind the tigers the sword using woman had hid but the vampire easily deflected her blow, brought her to the ground her left hand at the neck and her right holding the sword ready to slice it.

Suddenly the swordsman was there again and went for her head.

"Guren!" "Lieutenant Colonel Ichinose!" "Stop fighting!" The teenagers' scared cries mixed with the sound of steel on steel. The adult soldier was pressing down on the vampire's blade with all his might but it barely budged.

Luna let go of the woman's neck. "Fuck off Itchy-nose." With both her hands on her blade she was able to shove the soldier back a few steps. The short orange haired woman scrambled away.

The teenagers in ran onto the battle field. Mika unsheathed his sword and pointed it at Luna's throat. The female vampire did not impressed at all. "What?" Their gazes met. While Mika almost bared his teeth, Luna's face was devoid of any emotion. Still Mika felt like if anyone was to make an aggressive move against her friends or her she would slay them without mercy.

A few people came running, some jumping over old storage houses. Most of them were vampires. "Stop! Police! Drop your weapons and explain yourself!" The leader shouted, himself not much taller than Shinoa although he had been a grown-up when he had been turned. Luna was the only one to literally drop her weapon the others only sheathed them or turned them back to their key-form.

"Wait! This was just a misunderstanding!" Dmitri placed himself between the police men and the soldiers. "They're from Japan. There vampires are treating humans like animals! They don't know that we're coexisting!"

"They tried to kill you," Luna retorted. "A human!"

The adult soldiers looked slightly shocked at the white haired man and noticed the round ears and the color of his eyes that was red but not the unnatural vampire-red.

"Well, I'm not exactly the most human-looking human," Dima shot back.

The leader of the police force crunched his eyebrows in annoyance. "So who was being attacked?"

"Me!" Dima shouted and his hand went up. Luna added: "I intervened to stop them from killing Dmitri."

A human male next to the police chief started taking notes while the chief inquired: "Who wants to press charges."

"You can't!" Yu interjected. "I won't let you put Guren into prison!"

Dmitri stated: "You're wrong. I could. But I won't." He shrugged. "It was just a misunderstanding."

Luna snorted.

"Do you want to press charges?" the policeman asked her. For a few seconds she just stood there thinking. Then she shook her head and said only one word, quite softly: "Debts." The police vampire nodded once in understanding.

Then he conferred with his partner in a fast Russian chatter. While the Japanese didn't understand a word, they had not doubt that their two local friends understood everything as the Chief asked both of them a question and they replied without noticeable problems.

Then the policeman declared his decision: "Since the affected parties do not want to press any charges and nobody got injured we will let you go under the following conditions: First, you will leave tomorrow at the latest. Second, if there is another incident you will be charged with 'endangering the citizen' which might lead to a prison sentence. Third, while you are here Miss Wang and Mister Ivanov will watch you at all times. Do you understand?"

"Hmph. I don't have a choice, do I?" Guren was slightly smirking and the vampire answered: "No you don't." He turned around and started to shoo the crowd away that had gathered at the pier. The other police officers were helping him, calling out in various languages.

The teenagers, except for Mika and Yoichi, had gathered around Guren's squad and bombarded them with questions.

Yoichi had walked over to Dmitri and gently touched his arm, his eyes wide with worry: "Are you alright?"

The albino laughed shakily. "I guess. It was a bit of a shock, but I have a good guardian angel," he said motioning with his head towards Luna.

"I'm sorry that happened. I'm just glad nobody got hurt," Yoichi replied with an iridescent smile.

"Me too. But now I've got to repair the stupid floor … again," Dima said thinking back to when he accidently froze the quay and water that had gotten into small crevasses damaged it badly. Luna had been quite cross with him.

"Can I help you somehow?" The archer asked, but Dima shook his head. "It's alright. This is child's play."

Luna had grabbed her sword and was walking towards her scabbard when she felt Mika's gaze burning in the back of her head. She whirled around and asked quite crossly: "What?"

"Thank you for not killing them," the blond vampire said evenly, but without great passion.

"Hm? Are they important to you?" She sheathed her sword and used the scabbard's belt to hang it around her waist.

"Not really. But they are important to Yu."

Luna watched the black haired boy. Yes, judging by the way Yu's eyes lighted up and how he gestured when talking it was clear to see that he idolized the older man.

"You're a good brother."

Mika tried to fight the color that rose in his cheeks at Luna's compliment, but it seemed like she wasn't noticing it anyway. Shinoa had walked up to the two vampires with a grim look on her face: "We need to go back to Japan. They've had some problems lately and need all the people they can get."

The fluttery feeling in Mika's chest stopped abruptly. Why now? They had finally a lead on reversing his transformation and now Guren had to barge back into their lives.

Luna looked disappointed took. "Too bad. You can't go against orders, can you?"

Shinoa gave her a wry smile. "Had Kureto sent anyone else than Guren, we probably would have."

"But Guren is important to Yuichiro," Luna finished her thought.

"Come on! Are you going to adopt the whole vampire population now?"

Shinoa turned around. The other had joined them.

Luna stared back into Guren's violet eyes. "I don't need adopting, thank you very much."

"A sharp tongue you have there. Anyway these are my teammates, Shigure, Sayuri, Mito, Shinya and Norito."

Luna bowed stiffly. Then she turned to the woman she had choked, Sayuri, and apologized: "I am sorry for hurting you."

"N-no. It's okay. We attacked first," Sayuri replied.

Suddenly Dmitri appeared behind Luna and threw an arm around her shoulder. "I'm Dmitri Ivanov, the local magician. Nice to meet you!"

A realization dawned on Guren. "You deactivated my spell."

"Yeah."

Shinya whistled and Guren said: "That was quite impressive."

The albino shook his head. "It wasn't too hard. Spells bound to paper can easily be rerouted."

"Is that so?"

Shiho cleared his throat. "Do we have time for this discussion?"

He was supported by Shigure. "Kimizuki is right, Lieutenant Colonel Guren. We need to be back in Japan as soon as possible."

"Tsk. What a shame."

* * *

Back at their house Luna went in first calling out: "Dad?"

"Ah you're back," Jiahao exclaimed. "Where did the lot of you go? I've made dinner already."

"And I helped," Mirai added.

Shinoa replied: "Thank you, but we received orders to go back to Japan."

Guren used his most charming smile. "Pardon the intrusion. We are friends of the brats here and we need them back in Japan."

"Ah, I understand. I'll just put the food into boxes then."

"Now, everyone! Let's pack our bags!" Shinoa's cheer only received very soft echoes.

Since the house was quite cramped with everyone inside, Guren's team decided to wait outside. While Dmitri gracefully accepted apologies for their attack and answered all their questions Luna had asked Guren for a word in private.

The soldier had no chance to ask a question before the vampire said: "You shouldn't attack Hiroshima."

Guren played dumb. "I'm sorry? Why should we do that?"

"It's the next logical step for the JIDA. If you get to control Hiroshima you'll have driven the vampires out of Honshu and you'll have the perfect set-up for an attack on the cities in Shikoku." She tilted her head. "People are talking Guren Ichinose."

Guren's expression grew serious. "So why shouldn't we?"

"Because as long as Lady Krul doesn't lose complete control over Japan's biggest island, your war is an internal affair. If you take control of Honshu the rest of the world won't just stand there and watch. Do you really think you can take on the _entire_ vampire race?"

"I don't get why you are telling me this. Is this some sort of bluff?"

Luna chuckled darkly. "I owed your ancestor a favor and I take my debts very seriously. That's why you are still alive; that's why your friends are still alive. It is now repaid."

Guren remained silent. There was nothing left to say.

* * *

Finally all the bags were stowed away in the chopper; Guren's team had taken their seats and was waiting for the teenagers to say their good-byes.

Yoichi hugged his two new friends and almost cried. "I'll miss you a lot."

"Us too," Dima replied.

Mirai only hugged the vampire. "I hope we meet again."

Luna gave an agreeing hum. "Only without fighting please."

The small girl laughed and separated from the other girl when she felt a hand on her shoulder. It was Shiho's.

"Thanks for watching out for us."

"No problem."

The siblings climbed into the vehicle.

Yu and Mika walked up to the pair. They were so similar and yet so different, just like brothers.

Yu tugged on his hair. "I wish we could have stayed longer. Anyway, don't come to Japan! Definitely don't come! I don't want to fight you."

Dmitri lifted his hands up. "Don't worry, I don't like fighting. The one you have to worry about is _her_."

Luna nodded with the same teasing grin that she wore when they had been training together the first time. "Yeah right! I don't take orders from anyone, especially you, little wizard!"

Yu laughed and turned around with Mika in tow. "See ya around!" The blond vampire only nodded a good-bye.

Dima softly elbowed Luna's side. "The bag," he whispered.

"What ba- Oh-," a curse escaped the vampire's mouth, but luckily in a language no one understood. She grabbed the paper bag and touched it to Mika's shoulder. "This is for you. A book, a good one."

The other vampire was visibly puzzled, but accepted the present. "Thank you."

"Finally we can go too," Mitsuba said with an exasperated sight and Shinoa swayed against her shoulder. "Don't be so mean Mitsu~. Well, then this is good-bye."

Luna smiled. "Save travels. And Shinoa, if you ever get caught by vampires or something, just call for me. I know people, who know people all over the world."

"Will do. Thank you," Shinoa said smiling. And just before she entered the chopper she said: "Yu is right you know. Don't go to Japan. When the fighting breaks out it will be hell there."

Then she got in, closed the door and Shinya, who had been running the pre-flight check's the whole time, took off. The two locals watched them until they disappeared in the foggy night sky.

"I want one of those choppers," Dima said and Luna replied: "I'll get you one for Christmas." And at her friends hopeful face she added: "Fifty centimeters long, with batteries and a remote."

"You are so mean."

* * *

On board of the chopper the teenagers started unpacking their dinner and eating. Meanwhile Mika looked into the bag he had received from Luna. There were a book and two letters in there.

"'The Art of War' by Sun Tzu," he mumbled.

Shinoa who sat next to him noted: "That was mandatory reading in Shibuya High school. Oh, but what are those? Love letters?"

Yu perked up at that: "Huh? From who?"

"Whom, you dumb monkey," Shiho chided the black haired man and they started bickering. "Shut up Mister over-correct!"

"They are not love letters," Mika retorted angrily, but Shinoa's teasing grin showed him that she only meant to rile him up anyway.

One of the letters was written in a very ornate kind of handwriting and said 'Tepes', the other one said 'From Luna. Read this first!'.

 _"I know some people, who know a guy, who knows the First Progenitor of the Tepes clan. I probably shouldn't have written, but I assure you nobody gives a damn about what you do as long as you only interfere with Queen Krul's plans. Still, progeny needs to be known or else the whole world will be swamped with a wave of young vampires and that would be very bad. The Queen will probably get an earful, though, about not revealing your existence, but that is not the point._

 _Point is that as child of a third Progenitor you have some power, whether you like it or not. And being an official member of the Tepes clan could save your friends' and your head one day. By the way, read the book carefully. Might come in handy sometimes in the future."_

"I've expected something more … poetic," Shinoa said.

"Can you not read my letters over my shoulder," Mika hissed and Yu used his brother's distraction to snatch the paper and skim over it.

"And you said there are no good vampires, Mika!"

Finally Mitsu snapped: "Would you just sit down and be quiet! Respect Mika's privacy you little kids!"

Yu handed over the letter to Mika and apologized. Shinoa only smiled and the vampire couldn't tell if she felt apologetic at all.

They wouldn't have been able to read the other letter anyway, Mika thought, because he himself could barely deceiver it. A long time ago it might have been considered a beautiful handwriting, but for him it was just tiring to read.

 _"To Mikaela Hyakuya, sired by the third Progenitor Krul Tepes,_

 _It has come to Our attention that Our beloved younger sister committed an act of misconduct by not making Us aware of your existence. While We cannot tolerate this sort of behavior from Our third-in-command, We will not take any measures to terminate your existence. Instead We graciously grant you title and authority of a thirteenth progenitor valid outside of Krul's territory, where you answer directly to Us._

 _We are certain of your gratefulness towards Us and remain_

 _Your Royal Majesty Martina Vladovna Tepes"_

When Mika read the letter out loud, because Yu had asked him too and he didn't mind, Goshi laughed. "Seriously who writes like that in this time! Even my grandma wouldn't write like that."

Shinoa, who felt that the topic of Mika's letters had been exhausted and didn't feel like discussing Mika's new position as a progenitor, asked: "Guren, why are we going back to the JIDA? What exactly is happening in Japan?"

"Well, I'll leave that to Kureto to explain. But honestly," he leaned forward as far as the seatbelts would allow. "We might have a chance to finally deal a major blow to Japan's vampire forces, but Hiroshima is heavily defended. My guess is that Kureto needs your power."

Yu's eyes sparkled. "I'm ready! Just give the word!"

On the other hand Mirai looked a bit down. "I don't want to fight anymore."

"Well," Guren got comfortable in his seat again. "Maybe one Seraph will be enough. Now, brats, sleep a bit. You'll want to be well rested."

* * *

Longer Author's Note:

Part 1 of probably 4 is done. (That's why it's a longer AN) To be honest I have a rough storyline in my head, but many things are still undecided.

I have to agree with Ryo, that Asuramaru should have recognized Luna even if he does not remember who exactly she is. I thought about having the teens ask Luna about Ferid too, then I read my story again and noticed that 1: Mika asked her and 2: Mika is the one who mostly sees her more Ferid-like part. If I had written a conversation it would have gone something like: "Do you know Ferid?" "Call him Feridiot. Who doesn't know that insane guy anyway? Met him a long time ago. Don't really like him."

Considering what happened in chapter 64 of the manga I now have to write my own backstory (more information about that in the next chapter).

I tried to research how a noble would write a letter but I didn't find anything useful so I had to improvise. It was pretty fun writing Martina Vladovna's letter!

And lastly I want to thank Ryo for your comments. Every time I get a bit depressed and feel like nobody cares about my story I just have to go to the comments and see your name on the four most recent and I'm thinking: "I will finish this story even if it takes me years because there is at least one person reading and liking it!" So thank you!

Since I'm already here I want to answer Ryo's questions:

 **Q:** Did they realize by now that Luna is a Tepes?

 **A:** Difficult to answer. What does it mean to 'be a Tepes'? If it's about the 'family' bonds vampire share they would not be very surprised if Luna said she was the 'cousin', 'niece' or 'granddaughter' of Krul. Familial bonds for vampires are not like human bonds. Most vampires do not consider anyone further away than their sire and their offspring family, some don't consider anyone family and some choose whom to include.

They do not consider the option that Luna is stronger than Krul, because she is holding back a lot so she appears too weak to be someone important and that she doesn't meddle with politics while most (and especially the high ranking) progenitors do that a lot.

Do you think it would be better if I had Luna refer to Krul as Lady or Queen Krul when she is speaking so they wouldn't seem so close?

 **Q:** What progenitor is she, since officially there are only 20 20th progenitors and so on. So why is in your story another 1st progenitor. I do realize that there are unofficial ones, like Crowley and Mika, but wouldn't Luna be an official one?

 **A:** I changed the ranking system a bit. By default there are 7 First Progenitors (Chapter 6; The Origin story) who each have 2 Second Progenitors, 3 Third and so on. That makes 1470 Progenitors in total (default), which is not that much; it is estimated that around the Emergence of Agriculture the world population was about 1-15 million. There has been an increase in the amount of vampires as the human population increased. The progenitors have to keep tabs on how many vampires are sired and by whom (= Population control = the reason why normal vampires are punished for siring).

Not every progenitor position is filled; it depends a bit on the whims of the First. Some clans have more progenitors than others, like some human kingdoms include more dukes or counts than others. The ranking is determined by lineage, how much of the sire's blood was consumed, age and power (political, physical or economical). A vampire can never be more powerful than their sire as long as the sire is 'alive'.

Luna is a First Progenitor by default, but is disguising as someone weaker and lets her Second Progenitor order everyone around. The First not being the leader is quite common because they have to carry most of the Avenger's curse (Chapter 6) and are a bit busy keeping it's violent nature in check. I can't say more because the rest is important for the plot.


	9. Chapter 9

I am very sorry. I know I said beginning of March and I expected to have some time back then but then life happened.

As I said I need to create an alternate timeline as sort of prequel for my story since Kagami-sensei made some revelations that my story can't cope with. So **I'll start from Chapter 41 of the manga** to re-imagine the timeline. At first there won't be great changes, but I expect that they will grow more noticeable as the story progresses. I think I'll need to change some of the canon provided by the Light-Novels too, but that should be a lot easier.

On one hand I want to keep this short and on the other hand I want to give the secondary characters time to develop and shine. After I finish the story (in one or two years) I might rewrite some bits and extend on some parts. Still, if there is anything severely out-of-character please tell me.

Btw, there is a city called 'Obama' in Japan.

I edited the previous chapters so that Luna will use honorifics when _talking_ about Krul. I did not edit the instances when she _thinks_ about her (because the squad isn't telepathic).

And **Ryo** , you can ask anything you want. The worst things that could happen is that I can't answer because it's either a spoiler for later plot or a plot-hole that I need to repair or admit that that kind of happened.

* * *

 _"Everyone! As of right now Shinoa Squad is seceding from the Japanese Imperial Demon Army!" Shinoa declared in the middle of the battle. Yoichi gave the unconscious Yu a piggy-back ride and Mitsuba supported the severely wounded Kimizuki._

 _Mika killed one of the approaching human soldiers. "I'll help! Now hurry and run!"_

 _Nobody had to be told twice. "Let's go everyone! All of us are going to survive!" Shinoa encouraged the team._

 _In the chaos of the battle the 'traitors' managed to run away mostly unnoticed. Any soldier, human or vampire, was swiftly defeated by Mika, Shinoa or Narumi. When they felt like they had run far enough to be safe until they could obtain a car to get them farther away, the group stopped panting. Kimizuki crumbled down in pain._

 _"Kimizuki!" Mitsuba called out. "Hold on!" She pulled her jacked off revealing a sweat soaked white blouse, folded it and put it under the tall man's head._

 _Yoichi had carefully put down Yu and pulled out gauze and a small bottle of disinfectant and worked with Mitsuba to address everyone's injuries, starting with Kimizuki and Yu. Although their demons (and in Yu's case a seraph) accelerated the healing process they had still received dangerous wounds._

 _Narumi investigated several cars before finding a usable one and Shinoa helped him transferring fuel from the broken cars standing around._

 _Yoichi and Mitsuba carefully sat the wounded boys in the back of the car and Yoichi joined Mika at standing watch while Mitsuba helped the others scavenging for the necessary fuel._

 _"The fighting has stopped." Those where the first words Mika had said to any of them since they had left the battle field._

 _Yoichi echoed the vampire's words louder so that everyone heard._

 _"Do we have enough fuel?" Shinoa asked Narumi, who asked in reply: "Where do you want to go?"_

 _"Over the mountains. Tsuruga or Miyazu. We should be save there for some time."_

 _"That shouldn't be a problem," Narumi answered._

 _Shinoa ordered everyone to take a seat. Narumi would drive the car and Shinoa designated herself as co-driver, responsible for giving directions to the driver. The streets were in a catastrophic condition. Narumi had to drive slow and carefully, but even so the passengers were thrown around and Kimizuki groaned every time in pain. They crossed the Kiso River and smaller rivers that fed it and stopped in Sekigahara as the sun went down. Nagoya was not to be seen anymore._

 _"Let's stay here for the night," Shinoa proposed and when nobody voiced their disagreement she proceeded to give everyone duties: "Narumi and Mitsu, could you two please look for some food? But don't take too long?"_

 _The two soldiers nodded and went scavenging. Yoichi had already started redressing Kimizuki's and Yu's wounds under Mika's watchful eyes. Shinoa assisted him a bit. Soon they were done and went to investigate the surrounding houses._

 _"Kimizuki!" Yoichi cried out. The tall man had tried to stand up and follow them, but his weakened body would not comply._

 _"I want to be useful too," Kimizuki said slightly blushing as the smaller teenagers set him down comfortably again._

 _Yoichi laughed softly. "We know that, Kimizuki. But right now the most useful thing you can do is to allow yourself to heal."_

 _Shinoa guessed that another reason Kimizuki wanted to leave was the vampire in the back of the van. Mikaela had not said a word unless asked and even then kept his answer curt. His disdain for humans was easy to see and the only reason he hadn't left with the unconscious Yu was that Yu wouldn't like that and Mika did not want to make his brother sad._

 _"We will be back soon. Don't worry Kimizuki," Shinoa tried to reassure her companion._

 _All houses showed clear signs of abandonment, like overgrown gardens, and apparently some had also been broken into. All of the canned food was gone, as were other useful items, like candles, scissors and knives. Still Shinoa and Yoichi found enough blankets, mattresses and futons for everyone and placed them in a room which still had all windows intact._

 _Narumi and Mitsuba returned with bags filled with bottled water, food and other necessities. Shinoa gave them directions to 'their' house and then went with Yoichi to get Yu and Kimizuki. While Yoichi supported Kimizuki, Shinoa tried to convince Mika to let her take Yu inside their shelter._

 _At first the vampire seemed very reluctant, but when Shinoa said: "I don't know too much about vampires, Mikaela, but I do know that it is unhealthy for humans to stay in the cold so long and we would be wasting too much fuel if we kept heating the van overnight. So please, even if you don't want room with us, let us at least get Yu somewhere warm!"_

 _For a second the vampire looked at his feet deep in thought. Then he picked up his brother bridal-style and said: "Lead the way."_

 _Shinoa smiled and thanked him, which the vampire ignored, and led him to their camp, where Narumi had already put up a camping stove and was currently trying to get a can of beans open. Sadly the only thing they had not found on their scavenger hunt was a can opener or a multi-tool knife. The older soldier was already a bit furious: "Damn it! I don't even need the latest model! I just want a damn can opener!"_

 _Suddenly Mitsuba appeared with a small screwdriver and a hammer. "Give me that!" She grabbed the tin can, set down and secured it between her legs. Then she proceeded to open it carefully using the screwdriver like a chisel._

 _"There!" She placed the can with a 'thump' next to Narumi, who just looked at her in wonder, and got herself another can._

 _Suddenly Shinoa threw her arms around the other girl. "Aren't you a genius?! A hundred points for Mitsu!"_

 _"Stop it Shinoa! I don't want to hurt myself! Get off!"_

 _Mika watched the humans from the far side of the room. Stupid despicable creatures! If they are fooling around so much just to put him at ease so they can harm Yu, their plan was doomed to fail. Mika would never allow himself to let his guard down, no matter what those guys did. He would never allow them to put Yu in danger! Kind and gentle Yu. Mika vowed to never let him get used by those selfish beings! Still a possibility nagged on his mind. What if those guys were not using Yu but were also being used by someone else? What better way to make the kindest human on this world follow your orders than to manipulate his friends too?_

* * *

 _The next day Yu still hadn't woken up. Mika had kept watch beside him the entire night but the black haired boy hadn't even stirred. The humans had a quick breakfast before filling every available space with water, food, blankets and other stuff they might need. Compared to yesterday the car was uncomfortably stuffed._

 _Shinoa directed them to a shopping street in Nagahama where they got some spare clothes for everyone, before driving off and stopping for the night at Yogo Lake. One or two of the rice fields seemed like they were still being cared for but the soldiers didn't see a single soul. On the upside they also didn't see any Horsemen here. Maybe that was because of the proximity to Kyoto, or rather because of the proximity to Lake Biwa on which's southern shores Kyoto aka. Sanguinem lay and on which the vampires performed ship-based training, including sailing, shooting from a boat and other stuff. On the downside Yu didn't show any signs of waking up. Shinoa tried to cheer Mika up by saying that the last time Yu had gone berserk he had been asleep for seven days. The vampire only scowled._

 _Again the group left early. This time they stuck to an abandoned express way. They only stopped for toilet breaks and once whenever they had to pass through a tunnel. Every time Yoichi used Gekkoin to see if it was blocked, but luckily none of them was. In Tsuruga they camped out at the city center and refilled their supplies._

 _Apart from the most necessary conversations the group didn't talk a lot. Shinoa had tried sometimes, commenting the scenery or asking about their hobbies or favorite books, but she had given up on the third day. Yu was still unconscious and Mika guarded the boy without speaking a word. Narumi was depressed about his comrades' death and cried in the middle of the night when he thought that everyone else was sleeping._

 _There was no human soul to be seen in Tsuruga; a town of formerly about 66.000 citizens completely abandoned. They decided to drive on to Maizuru. It was farther away from Kyoto and Tokyo and was most likely a safer option than staying here._

 _They left very early. Mitsuba, Shiho and Yoichi fell asleep again as soon as the car moved and swayed left and right as Narumi steered to avoid potholes. Clouds covered the sky and it looked like it was going to snow again._

 _"We'll have to find a good house again today," Shinoa said to Kimizuki as he relieved Narumi as driver. "If it gets cold we shouldn't sleep in the car."_

 _"Do you think we can make it to Maizuru today? Or should we stop on the way and spend the night there?"_

 _Shinoa looked back over her shoulder at Yu's sleeping face. It was the fourth day since they had fled from Nagoya. The last time Yu had slept a week. Would it take that long again? Or maybe even longer? Shinoa hoped not. Right now the group could use Yu's positive and slightly naïve personality._

 _"I'd like to get to Maizuru today if nothing happens. But don't strain yourself Kimizuki."_

 _The driver slowly accelerated the car to a decent speed. "Don't worry. This is a piece of cake. I mean there is no traffic, no rules to abide by or people that suddenly cross the streets. The only nasty things are these potholes …" He swerved left to avoid one on his lane. "And the rubble lying around."_

 _"Yu?" Mika's voice was barely more than a whisper, but everyone seemed to have heard it._

 _The black haired boy stirred again and Shinoa watched him worriedly. The horns still hadn't gone away. Was the one awakening Yu or his violent demon?_

 _Yu's eyelashes fluttered and his red eyes met the gaze of the vampire. "Mika …"_

 _That was the first time Shinoa had seen Mika smile, completely free of worry or sadness. She felt a tiny bit jealous that there was no one looking at her this way._

 _"I'm here Yu. How do you feel?"_

 _But the boy wasn't listening. He struggled against the seat belt, trying to tear through it instead of unclipping it._

 _"Yu-?"_

 _"What the hell is this?!" Yu shouted. "Release me! Let me go or I'LL KILL YOU!"_

 _"It's the demon!" Shinoa shouted. "Everybody get out of the car!"_

 _The teenagers jumped out of the car, followed by the demon, who ripped out a door and promptly attacked Kimizuki. Shiho had no time to draw his weapon, but Mika saved him by barreling into Yu and knocking the boy down. Yu threw the vampire aside, but was attacked by Narumi. Yoichi helped Narumi keeping Yu at bay while the girls made the last adjustments on the demon-suppressing handcuffs._

 _"It's done!" Shinoa shouted out and Mika wrestled Yu to the ground. Shinoa threw the handcuffs at Narumi who quickly but them around Yu's wrists. The possessed boy's movements grew slower and weaker, but the horns didn't vanish neither did the color of his eyes turn normal again. Yu just grew lethargic and the others moved him back into the car, which was now missing a passenger door._

 _Mika grabbed Shinoa's uniform and almost lifted her off the ground. "What the hell just happened? Why isn't Yu back to normal?"_

 _Narumi aimed his trident at the vampire and Shinoa made a gesture to stop him. She looked at Mika with defiant eyes. "Apparently Yu is still possessed by his demon. We knew that there was a chance he wouldn't be back to normal when he woke up. Hopefully this is a temporary state … else he'll stay a demon forever."_

 _Mika pushed her away from him. Shinoa stumbled a bit. "You knew about this? This is your fault," the vampire snarled. He went to the car and picked Yu up in his arms._

 _"What are you doing?" Mitsuba shouted._

 _"I'll take Yu with me!"_

 _"Where to? Your Queen is captured! Where will you take him?"_

 _Before Mika could answer Shinoa said: "Mitsu is right. You don't have any allies and Yu will probably attack you too in his demonic state. And unlike us you are unable to create the necessary spell to suppress it. Please Mikaela! Trust us on this. We would never hurt Yu."_

 _"That's right," Yoichi chimed in too. "Yu is our friend."_

 _Mika clenched his jaw but made no further attempt to leave. Instead he settled Yu back into the car and sat down next to him._

 _Shinoa took a few steps closer to him. "Thank you Mikaela."_

 _"Don't get chummy with me." The vampire's eyes blazed with fury. "You might have tricked Yu, but I won't be deceived."_

 _Shinoa sighed and ordered everyone back into the car with a resigned voice. After Shiho had started the engine she said: "Let's stop at Obama and look for a new car there."_

 _Shiho just nodded. Shinoa looked back at Yu. His eyes were open now, but he didn't seem to be present. His unfocused gaze just wandered the back of the seat before him. His shackled hands laid in his lap and Mika had entwined his fingers with Yu's. Shinoa sighed. This just kept getting worse._

 _Just when they had passed the town sign marking the beginning of Obama Yu's head shot up and he looked around awake and alert. "Where the heck am I?!" Then he saw Mika. "Mika? Mika! I'm so glad- huh?" But when he tried to hug the vampire his hands would not separate because of the shackles. "Why the heck am I shackled? Shinoa explain?!"_

 _He looked into his leader's brown eyes who looked back at him in relief and her look was mirrored on all the other faces. "I am really sorry about that Yu, but you were possessed by your demon and tried to kill us. But luckily we have an awesome gear-enchantress with us so you will not be able to hurt us anymore even if you go crazy!"_

 _"You're joking right!" Yu shouted in utter disbelieve._

 _"I wish," Mitsu answered with her arms crossed in front of her. "If we hadn't prepared for that possibility we would have been mince-meat."_

 _Yu looked from one girl to the other and back. They didn't look like they were messing with him. But him attacking his precious family? Unthinkable! Then another thought hit him. "What happened to Guren? Is he alright?"_

 _Shinoa looked away. "We do not know. The Colonel was either apprehended by the Demon Army or the vampires, but judging from the situation when we left he is most likely with Kureto."_

 _"Then we need to save him!"_

 _Mika put a hand on Yu's shoulder and pulled him back into his seat. "Yu listen! That guy was only using you!"_

 _Yu looked down on his hands. He felt as shackled by his confusion as he was physically. Who was the bad guy? Who were the good guys? Who were the people he could believe? Both, Mika and Guren, were his family. How could he put one's opinion over the other's?_

 _"Guren was crying," Yu said with a raw voice. "He was crying and I want to save him."_

 _"Do you have something on your ears? He's a bad person Yu!" Mika frantically cried out._

 _"He is not to me!" Yu shouted back. "I told you he saved me! I wouldn't be alive without him!"_

 _"He only saved you for his own ends!"_

 _Yu smiled. "So what? Does it matter? It still means that because of him I got to see you again."_

 _Mika grumbled._

 _"Can we continue this inside? This house looks good enough to spend the night in," Shiho said._

 _"Ah, that reminds me, how long was I out for?" Yu asked._

 _"Three whole days and nights," Shinoa stated._

 _"What? Mika! Why didn't you wake me?" Yu shook his brother to the best of his ability. They were, after all, buckled into the car and Yu's hands were still cuffed._

 _"It wasn't my fault! You were the one sleeping like a stone!"_

 _"I was not!"_

 _"No, you were! You even were snoring!"_

 _Shinoa paused at this. Yu hadn't been snoring! Was Mika teasing him?_

 _"I do not snore," Yu stated with his arms crossed in front of his body._

 _A grin crept on Shinoa's face. "Oh, you were snoring Yu! I am surprised no vampire came to investigate this unbelievable loud sound! They must have thought it to be a bear or something …"_

 _Yu opened his mouth to retort but Mitsuba came along and pushed him towards the door of the house they've chosen. "That's enough you little brats. I'm freezing out here. Settle this inside."_

 _Mika scowled at the blonde but didn't say anything. Shinoa hoped it was a sign of him warming up to them. She was about to follow her friends inside when someone put a hand on her shoulder._

 _Narumi looked somewhat stiff and his expression spelled bad news. "You should stop being so childish."_

 _"Childish?" Shinoa raised her eyebrows. "Me?"_

 _"Yes. You are a leader now. You should be a person we can depend on and look up to. We respected Guren Ichinose because we were raised to, but also because he deserved it as a leader. He always stood on the frontlines, leading by principle, and even away from it he always planned for the future. He took his responsibility seriously and everyone knew it. You should think about whether you are the same."_

 _Just like that he left Shinoa standing outside. She shivered. Mahiru and Kureto had always been born leaders and though Mahiru had hidden her true intentions behind a mask it had been the mask of a dependable person. None of them had been insecure about anything or at least hadn't expressed that feeling for everyone to see._

 _That was not a person Shinoa could or wanted to be. She just wished for true friends and a real family. She could be a leader for them but she would never give up on expressing her feelings. After all hadn't that been the reason for Mahiru's downfall? That she wasn't allowed to be herself?_

* * *

 _Unsurprisingly Maizuru was abandoned. There wasn't a soul to be seen. There wasn't even a stray horseman, who could have been hunting humans. Around noon Shinoa decided that Yu should wear the shackles again. At first the boy was reluctant, but Shinoa said it was only a safety measure and if he didn't turn into a demon he wouldn't have to wear them again anyway. And if he turned into a demon he wouldn't be able to hurt them._

 _It was the right decision. About an hour later two black horns burst from Yu's head and his eyes turned red. But unlike yesterday he didn't react violently at all thanks to the shackles. His eyes just glazed over and he had a slight grin on his face. Shinoa had seen it one some drugged people before._

 _Mika had reacted badly at first. Shocked he shook the possessed Yu by his shoulders but the black haired boy didn't answer at all. Then he looked around demanding answers, but the humans stayed calm and finally Mika calmed down too. It didn't stop him from glowering at anyone who came too close to Yu or him though._

 _They crossed the Yura River and followed it north to Kunda. An old flyer Mitsuba had found in Obama had advertised it as 'a small seaside village; perfect for relaxing holidays'. The few still recognizable pictures showed a small town, some fields and the sea._

 _Narumi, who had more experience about where humans tended to gather after the Apocalypse, thought it to be a good place to stay. "It is not a big city so the vampires won't come here that often. There are field so we will be able to raise some crops and the sea is nearby too. We'll have to find clean water and electricity though."_

 _When the river ended in the sea the street proceeded to follow the coastline. After rounding a corner they saw Kunda Bay and out on the water a few boats were sailing around._

 _"There are humans out there!" Yoichi shouted and everyone, except for Narumi who was driving, looked at the bay._

 _Yoichi was right. Although they could not see the sailors on the boats the vessels did not seem derelict. Suddenly one by one the boats turned back to the shore. They must have spotted them!_

 _"We need to get to Kunda before them!" Mitsuba shouted._

 _But Shinoa had a different opinion, so she asked Mika: "How do the vampires usually raid cities?"_

 _"I only went with them once or twice, but normally we were travelling with a chopper," the vampire replied._

 _"All right," Shinoa smiled. "Since we are arriving by car we might not be as scary as a chopper! Let's take our time and see what happens."_

 _"But what if those sailors get home and everyone runs away or if they plot to kill us?" Mitsuba inquired._

 _"Good point Mitsu. But how would you rather face strangers: Prepared or unprepared? Right now they can't be sure about who we are, but they know that we are not in a chopper and that we did not try to chase them. I'd bet on it that they won't simply run away."_

 _When they arrived at the small town the sun started to set. All the streets seemed abandoned. Most of the houses were desolate and if they hadn't seen the boats or the well-kept fields the soldiers would have just passed through._

 _Only Yu and Mika stayed in the car. Mika would have certainly scared the locals and he wouldn't want Yu to leave without him. At least Yu was back to being human again._

 _They spread out keeping visual contact. This town unsettled Yoichi in a way the others hadn't. Maybe it was because they knew that there were humans around. If they hadn't known would he still feel the same way? Yoichi hoped so because this kind of instinct was important for him, a sniper, a guardian and a soldier. Hopefully vampires would trip his internal alarms too._

 _"Hello!" Shinoa called out. "Is there anyone here? We don't mean you harm! We just need a place to stay for a while!"_

 _There was no answer. Some dead leaves rustled in the breeze and from somewhere they could hear wind chimes. A door slammed shut._

 _"How did you get here and why are you still alive?"_

 _The soldiers whirled around. The young man seemed to have materialized out of nothing. Only Yoichi had noticed the pattern in the sand that looked like a circle. The guy looked older than he had a right to be, but that was probably the result of a life filled with stress, hardships and bad nourishment._

 _"We escaped from the Japanese Imperial Demon Army. Do you know them?" Shinoa answered evenly, but the man made no move to answer her own question. In fact, if it wasn't for his human looks and him breathing he could have been a sculpture._

 _"They performed human experiments on our friends so we ran away. We don't want to impose on you. We just need a place where we can rest for a while and plan our next steps," Shinoa continued._

 _"Why are you still alive?" The man asked again._

 _Shinoa took out her weapon in its keychain-form. "These are demon weapons. With these we can kill horsemen and vampires."_

 _For the first time a human expression crept over the man's face. He gave them a thin lipped smile. "Oh really? That little stick can take on those big monsters?"_

 _"Please don't be scared," Shinoa warned him. The guy only gave her a huff but when she transformed her scythe his eyes grew wide. "I can make my scythe smaller. Others, Shiho for example, can't do that with their weapons." Kimizuki gestured at his twin swords._

 _Suddenly a small woman burst out from one of the doors. She came to a sliding stop in front of Shinoa and asked: "You can really kill those big monsters with that?"_

 _Shinoa blinked in surprise. "Ah. Yes. We call those monsters 'horsemen' though."_

 _The newcomer turned to the young man and stated: "I want them to stay!"_

 _"Suzumi, they might lead the monsters and the bloodsuckers right to us!"_

 _"And? They can kill vampires too! Right?"_

 _Shinoa nodded and Suzumi shouted out: "See! There you have it."_

 _As if to enforce her words an explosion was to be heard from ahead. Smoke billowed into the sky._

 _"Those monsters again!" The man gave Shinoa's group a dirty glare. "Told you they'd lead enemies to us!"_

 _Yoichi had already drawn his bow. "There are three horsemen and some people running from them!"_

 _"Can you take them down from here?" Shinoa asked and the boy briskly shook his head. "The civilians are in the way!"_

 _"Then let's go!"_

 _At Shinoa's gesture Yu and Mika go out of the car and joined the squad. Together they sped off._

 _The two shocked locals looked after them._

 _"I told you they were with the vamps!" The man shouted._

 _"Be quiet Daisuke! Let's see what they are doing! Maybe there is a simple explanation for all of this."_

* * *

 _All of the people had hidden. Maybe they had some cellars or sewers the horsemen couldn't reach. It was good because they didn't have to push themselves through a fleeing crowd._

 _Soon the white shapes of the monsters towered over the houses and Yoichi drew his bow. The arrows took down the horseman furthest away from them._

 _Narumi pulled up a barrier between the fleeing humans and the monsters. One of them slammed against it and gave a shriek. Narumi winced as the demon sapped his power to stabilize the wall._

 _Kimizuki jumped just over it and severed one of the monsters claws. Mitsuba slammed her axe down. Blue flames burst forth and burned its feet to a crisp. The horseman fell and Yu delivered the killing blow._

 _Mika had attacked the last remaining beast. He cut off one appendage after another when Shinoa jumped in and had Shikama Doji pin down its wildly swinging tail. Then some arrows pierced the creatures head._

 _"Is everyone alright?" Shinoa asked and made a headcount. Everyone was there and some stunned locals watched from far away. Mika shot Shinoa a glare that seemed to say: 'I had everything under control. You didn't need to step in.' But she shrugged it off. The sooner Mika realized he was not a lone wolf anymore but part of a team, the better._

 _The two locals they had been talking to before came running. Suzumi's face broke out into a grin. "So~, do you still think we should case them away?"_

 _Daisuke didn't reply. Fate had provided some good arguments, namely three dead horsemen._


	10. Chapter 10

Spoilers for the manga chapters 43 - 48.

I do hope I've managed to capture Ferid's mannerisms correctly. I mentioned the board game 'Risk'. It's a strategy game for multiple (2 or more) players. I like it better than chess as a comparison because I think it's more realistic than chess. It's somewhat popular where I come from; everyone knows it by name at least.

Why is it that when I read the manga it feels like there is too little content per chapter and when I rewrite it, it feels like the chapter tripled in size? The prequel will go on until chapter 13 or 14, but I'm not so sure about the length yet. I'm also working on the plot but my brain keeps sabotaging itself by imagining very cool but very unrealistic scenes.

 **Edit 07. June: I will have the next chapter finished in June but I don't know when. I am currently preparing for a big exam that I mustn't/dont want to fail.**

* * *

 _Staying at Kunda hadn't always been easy with a vampire and a boy who slowly transformed into a violent demon. But the locals accepted it since it also meant protection from the horsemen and more food for them. They hadn't gone far, fearing to run into the man-eating monsters. Now, with the soldiers here, they could mount small exploration expeditions to some neighboring village or town and scavenge for food._

 _After one month Shinoa gave up any hope she had that Yu would return to normal like he did before. He was now a demon for two hours every day around noon and each passing day that time grew by two minutes. It was time to move on._

 _"Since we are all together and awake we should talk about what we are going to do next," Shinoa opened the discussion. "Mitsuba, would you please summarize the things we need to discuss?"_

 _Mitsu cleared her throat. "Okay so listen up! We have two main points: Our safety and the people we left behind. First of all, we can't keep running forever. The demon army will try to capture us again as we are a part of their experiment. Also running won't help since Yu is turning into a demon and we need to stop that. On to the other point, there is Shiho's sister we need to save."_

 _"So we first need to save Yu and Mirai and then we could run away, right?" Narumi asked and Shinoa nodded. "Then we should go back to the JIDA," Narumi continued. "They can provide treatment for Yuichiro."_

 _"Don't joke with me!" Mika looked ready to murder the older man and Shinoa shuffled closer just in case a fight broke out. "I'll never give Yu to the humans!"_

 _"You can't protect him when he's a demon and neither can you stop his transformation. So shut up if you don't have any better ideas!"_

 _Mika took a step forwards and Yu grabbed his sleeve. "Please don't fight. And don't make this all about me either. I'm not that important."_

 _"Shut up! My friends died protecting you! My friends died because you are important because of the experiments done to you! Don't go around saying you're not important!"_

 _Shinoa looked worriedly at the two guys. Yu never considered the feelings of the other people and Narumi still hadn't healed. She hoped that his words meant that he wanted to protect Yu, the person, and not just Yu, the experiment._

 _For a short time there was silence._

 _Then Yu said: "I … I want to meet up with Guren. I want to save him and I'm sure he'd help us."_

 _"Yu! We can't trust him!" Mika shouted._

 _Before Yu could retort and they'd started fighting again, Shinoa agreed with Mika. "We can't trust Guren right now, because he is possessed by a demon, who was once my sister. There is no telling what he would do to us."_

 _"So it seems we cannot cooperate with any human," Narumi said. "Hey vampire! Do you have any ideas?"_

 _Mika scoffed. "So the blood from earlier was meant as a bribe?"_

 _"No. It was meant to help you. If you have a suggestion then please talk to us," Shinoa disagreed._

 _With one look to Yu's 'I told you so; You are really stupid'- face, Mika sighed and said: "There is a vampire who was involved in the 'Seraph of the End'- experiment. We can probably trust her. She … is the queen who raised me. But I don't know where she is, since she was captured by the vampires."_

 _"Are vampires less dangerous than the demon army?" Narumi asked._

 _"Yes. They are not interested in anything but blood, not even power, unlike the humans."_

 _"Well, that's just how the JIDA is," Narumi agreed with Mika. "I vote for the vampire's suggestion."_

 _One by one the others agreed too. Mika hadn't expected that. To be honest his plan wasn't that much better than the others, but at least they would stay away from the greedy humans. He had no idea where Krul was and frankly he was worried. Who knew what Ferid would do to her? And then there is the Progenitor council …_

 _"Alright." Shinoa put the tips of her fingers together. "Then let's first save the vampire queen and then Kimizuki's sister and Guren."_

 _"Yes! Let's go!"_

 _The rest of the group were amused by Yoichi and Yu's outbreak._

 _Kimizuki pointedly asked: "Is this a system where only the idiots react?"_

 _Yoichi smiled a bit embarrassed and Yu only huffed. "But to save the vampire queen, what should we do, Mika? Do we have to infiltrate Sanguinem?"_

 _Mika thought for a second. Yu wouldn't like what he was going to say next. Hell, he himself didn't like it one bit. He'd like to Ferid dead more than anyone, but right now this repugnant noble was their only hope of finding Krul._

 _"The queen was caught by Ferid Bathory. Do you remember him Yu?"_

 _"Ah." For a second Yu's brilliant green eyes clouded with anger._ That _guy! "The guy who separated us … and killed Akane and our family." Unconsciously Yu's hand flew to his sword. Just touching it gave him comfort. Right now he wasn't that weak anymore! Right now he could kill that damn bloodsucker! But … "Didn't I kill that guy?"_

 _"You shot him in the head with a gun," Mika stated and Yu finished his train of thoughts: "Vampires don't die from something like that. … Wait, so he's still alive?!"_

 _"Yes. You've met him in Shinjuku, when we first reunited," Mika answered and Yu looked at him perplexed. "You seriously did not notice him?"_

 _"Ahaha, I wasn't really focusing on anything, but you."_

 _Mika thought that Yu really needed a babysitter all the time. Maybe it wasn't so bad that he met those humans. At least they watched his back._

 _"Would someone mind to fill me in?" Narumi asked. Well, he was the 'new' squad mate. They hadn't briefed him on Yu and Mika's history yet._

 _"So it's about what happened to them when they were in the vampire city," Shinoa began, but stopped when Yu abruptly turned his head and looked east at the coast. His whole body was stiff and Shinoa was reminded of a dog who suddenly heard a strange noise. "What's wrong, Yu?"_

 _"Ah, it's just that I hear this strange noise. Can any of you hear it?"_

 _To Shinoa's ears it was all quiet and peaceful. Was the demon-transformation affecting Yu's senses?_

 _"I can't hear anything," Yoichi softly said._

 _"But I can hear it now. It's a car engine."_

 _A cold feeling crept up their backs. "Is the demon army already on to us?!"_

 _"I'll go and check," Yoichi said, drawing Gekkoin and jumping on a house._

 _Shinoa looked over to Yu, who was talking with Mika. Yu didn't look like he was possessed by the demon, but they were cunning creatures. The demon could pretend not to be in control. But certainly Yu was becoming more and more like the demon. Shinoa missed the air of hope the boy had had around him._

 _"There! I see them! … It's not the demon army! It's that vampire we fought at Nagoya city hall!"_

 _Shiho's eyes were wide open in fear. "The monster with the red hair?!"_

 _"And there is a silver haired vampire with him!"_

 _Mika froze. "That is Ferid Bathory," he stated quietly. "They're the ones that caught the queen. We should not get involved with them right now! We need to be the ones to dictate the terms of our cooperation!"_

 _Shinoa nodded. "Then let's take the stimulant pills and run as fast as we can! If they are truly targeting us then the villagers should be alright."_

 _They sped off towards the mountains. Hopefully the vampires would leave the villagers alone. Hopefully they wouldn't follow them either. Hopefully they are just passing through. But that wasn't very likely. They would have to fight._

 _"Mika? Is that Ferid guy strong?" Yu asked._

 _"Yes, very strong. He is the second strongest vampire in Japan, right after the queen."_

 _For a second Mitsuba lost her balance, but she kept going. "Wait! You mean he is stronger than the red haired vampire?!"_

 _"The JIDA's files say that Crowley Eusford is a 13th progenitor! The higher the rank the stronger they are," Narumi filled them in._

 _"Ferid is a seventh progenitor," Mika stated. A seventh. Mika had no idea why he and Crowley had been able to capture Krul. A seventh progenitor shouldn't stand a chance against a third. Most likely she was too distracted. Still she should have been able to defend herself._

 _"That's bad. If he catches up to us were done for," Shinoa uttered._

 _Mika glanced at Yu. What would he do to save his friends from Ferid? Would he use his seraph for them again?_

 _"Say Mika, did I only escape because Ferid wanted me to?"_

 _'Yes, certainly. Ferid let you escape to drive you into that Guren's arms,' was what Mika thought. But right now they couldn't afford any discord. First they had to flee. "Probably. But he didn't tell me any details …"_

 _Yu clenched his jaw and Mika knew what was going through his head. 'Guren is good. Guren is innocent. Someone must be manipulating him.' There was a tug in Mika's heart. 'I hate to break it to you, but most humans are greedy. Your Guren would do anything to obtain power.' Then Yu's eyes gained a determined look. That couldn't be good! His stupid brother was probably thinking of solving it all on his own, selling himself out to protect his friends._

 _"Don't Yu! When I said I'd go alone to Ferid's mansion, you were angry, right? I should have listened to you. I shouldn't have gone there. Maybe then Akane and the others would still be -"_

 _"No it's not your fault Mika! It never was! You see-"_

 _Shiho shoved Yu forward. "Stop chattering and concentrate on running! We can sort this out together after we escaped!"_

 _"Exactly!" Yoichi shouted out between breaths. "The world might be destroyed and we have no idea what's going on and who else is on our side, but even if the world gets more chaotic, we'll always be comrades!"_

 _"Well spoken," a new voice said from behind them and suddenly Crowley appeared right in front of them. "I couldn't have said it better. Now I just need to delay you until Ferid gets here."_

 _Within a second Mitsuba was thrown off her feet and flew through the air, blood gushing out of her upper arm. Crowley caught the blonde and threw her at the ground. The entire group froze._

 _"Mitsu!" Shinoa's cry brought them back from their paralysis and Yoichi drew his bow._

 _"Good, good. If you're willing to fight, then I can stall you until Ferid arrives," Crowley hummed slightly amused. When was the last time he fought without having to hold back?_

 _Mitsuba listened to the vampire with wide eyes. They couldn't beat this vampire! She threw her arms around Crowley's legs. "Leave me behind! You must go on without me! I'll hold him back!"_

 _"No way! We're comrades! We stick together!" Yoichi shouted and fired at the vampire. Crowley deflected his arrows without any visible effort. The archer drew more power from his demon and the violet tattoos spread on his face._

 _Shiho bolted towards the vampire, Shinoa and Narumi at his flanks, and activated his demon's special ability. The coffin appeared and the countdown began._

 _"I've seen this before. I'd like to get out of range so would you please let go of me?"_

 _"Never! I refuse to be a burden anymore!" Mitsuba cried out and only gripped the vampire's legs harder._

 _"Really now …" Crowley ducked to avoid Shinoa's scythe, picked up Mitsuba by the back of her uniform and pried her from his legs. He threw her against an advancing Narumi and in the last second jumped out of Shiho's reach. The four didn't hesitate and attacked the vampire from all sides with impeccable teamwork. Still Crowley wasn't bothered by them and blocked or dodged every of their moves._

 _While his teammates fought the progenitor, Yu watched them frozen in terror. "We … can't win this. This guy defeated Mitsuba and Kimizuki in one shot. But he is only toying with us."_

 _"He is buying time until Ferid arrives," Mika stated. "If he catches us it's over. Let's just run away together, Yu!"_

 _"I won't leave our comrades behind. They're fighting even though, or because, they know that the vampires are after me."_

 _"Then if we escape they won't have any reason to fight anymore," Mika said feeling relieved._

 _"No! They might get killed or turned into livestock! I won't stand for this! The last time I ran away I lost my family and you were turned into a vampire." Yu held up one hand when he saw Mika opening his mouth to retort. "It wasn't your fault. We're involved in some big scheme, but I believe that if we face it together we can overcome it! Without anyone dying too!"_

 _Mika sighed. "You really think it's going to be that easy, don't you?"_

 _Yu laughed. "Well, if you lend me your strength …"_

 _Mika sighed again. Why was his stupid brother always this stubbornly optimistic?_

 _"Stop fighting! We surrender!"_

 _Crowley looked somewhat pleased. Or maybe he would have preferred to fight on? Who could tell?_

 _"Yu!" came the collective cry from the team. "What the hell are you talking about?! Draw your weapon and fight!"_

 _"No, it's alright. They're after the 'Owari no Seraph'-experiment. They're after me! Isn't that right?"_

 _Crowley shrugged. "I don't have any goal. I'm just following him," he said pointing at the rapidly approaching car. Apparently Ferid wasn't a good driver because when he braked he misjudged the distance and Yu had to jump out of the way. Or maybe that had been intentional._

 _"Hey, you two! I heard you are being attacked by a dangerous vampire so I came to rescue you! Hurry now, get in the car," Ferid said with a grin on his face. Yu wondered how Mika managed to survive without killing that guy. It hadn't been a second but Yu already wanted to chop him into pieces._

 _"Ferid. You're not up-to-date. They've surrendered."_

 _"Wha-?" Ferid looked from Crowley to the two boys. "Were you always this obedient?"_

 _"It's not like we can win against you. And we've deserted from the Demon Army. We have no idea who our enemies are. You're after me and I want to know why! I also want to know what's going on here. That's why I'll cooperate with you as long as nobody gets hurt!"_

 _"Ahaha!" Ferid laughed. He sat on the trunk of his car and twirled the keys around his fingers. "After everything I've done to you?! You must have some very weak morals." He steepled his fingers in front of his chin. "You'll really cast aside all your anger and hatred for me? I've killed your family." He watched in amusement as Yu started to tremble. "And I enjoyed it. I've lured you into a trap and played with your hopes. And you're saying you'll_ forgive _me?"_

 _Of course it wasn't that easy! Yu had already enough on his plate trying to hold back a demon and a seraph! And Ferid's rambling didn't help a bit. It would be better if he were dead. It would be easier if he were dead. And it would give Yu great pleasure to kill him! He'd just have to give in to this feeling, let himself be drowned away by hatred and the desire for revenge. Then he'd have enough power to kill that fool! 'Just give in and kill him,' it chanted in his head. 'Kill him. Kill him! Kill! KILL!'_

 _The curse-marks spread over Yu's face, two horns popped out of his head and one eye turned red. "I'm gonna kill you!"_

 _"No Yu! Don't!" Mika shouted and the others chimed in._

 _Ferid only chuckled. "Crowley," he whined. "Please protect me! A dangerous demon is after my life!"_

 _"Excuse me? You're stronger than me."_

 _"Eh? Really?" Ferid dodged Yu's blow and his beautiful car got split in half. "Oh no! My car! Didn't you say you were going to forgive me?"_

 _"I'LL KILL YOU!"_

 _"Oh, I guess not." Ferid jumped away again. Yu's attacks were so predictable. Of course, possessed he gave up his brain-power for brawn-power. But it was really boring Ferid. Maybe he should just end it? "Mika~! Don't you think it's bad for him to use his demon's power so recklessly? Maybe he'll turn into a real demon! I'm really~ worried here!"_

 _In the blink of an eye Mika was behind Yu and held him back. "Calm down Yu!"_

 _"No! He killed our family!"_

 _"You already knew that! Don't let him get to you!"_

 _"Why? He killed them for sport! For FUN," Yu spat. "Why shouldn't I take revenge?"_

 _"Because he's more powerful than all of us together," Mika tried to reason. "All of us couldn't take him on and certainly not you alone!" Yu was still shivering. Yu was still fighting. Mika felt that clearly._

 _"Mika, let go of me! If … if you don't … I'll kill you too. … No. … Stop it … demon."_

 _"Mitsu, where is the demon restraint?"_

 _"It's here but I'm not sure we can get to him in his condition!" Mitsuba answered. Yu could easily kill Mika and maybe others too, if they weren't extremely careful. And then there are those vampires. Did they have a truce now? They never agreed on it. With Yu gone berserk it would be a great opportunity to capture the group, even though they would have overpowered them anyway._

 _"So … do we have an agreement?" Kimizuki asked the two bloodsuckers._

 _Crowley only looked at Ferid, the head of this operation. He laughed. "Why not? There is no way for you to stop Yu without endangering yourself and we wouldn't want that now, do we? But I have a drug that will turn Yu back to normal! Now, who will be the first to beg '_ Please, Lord Bathory, help us poor souls _'? I won't help you if you don't."_

 _The teenagers looked at each other. Was this guy missing a few screws? They thought they were to be working together from now on, but this filthy vampire insisted on humiliating them?_

 _Shinoa lowered her head. As the leader she was responsible for everything her group did. Being a leader meant caring for everyone under her command, taking the blame for their wrong doings, praising them for what they did right and being their scout, their guardian and their beacon of hope._

 _Shinoa opened her mouth and softly said: "Please …, Lord Bathory,-"_

 _Suddenly Ferid flicked her shoulder. "Just kidding! I'm here to be friend with you." He slowly approached Yu and Mika with a syringe in his hand._

 _Crowley sighed. "I'll tell you something, Miss Leader. The only thing you'll ever get from him is trouble. So never trust him."_

 _Shinoa thought that she would rather die before trusting Ferid Bathory the slightest bit and she wondered why she should believe Crowley, of all people._

 _A shout startled her out of her thoughts. "Don't come near him Ferid! Leave us alone!" Mika stood protectively in front of Yu who had slumped on the ground. Most likely he was talking with his demon now._

 _"Well, I would but then he'd turn into a demon and we wouldn't want that now, would we?"_

 _"Don't screw with me, Bathory! You don't want to save him! You want to use him!"_

 _"How do you know what I truly want? But I know what you want. You'd only need to inject these dangerous drugs into Yu. So do you want to do it or should I?"_

 _Mika drew his sword and pounced at Ferid who didn't move an inch. Instead Crowley blocked Mika's blow, seized one of his arms and pushed him to the ground. The younger vampire squirmed, but Crowley was just too strong. He could only helplessly watch as Ferid approached his last family member._

 _Yu just passively watched._

 _"My, my, aren't you a cutie? You've grown up well and you retained your pretty eyes even with the demon rampaging inside of you." He softly touched Yu's lips with his thumb. "May I drink your blood before treating you?"_

 _"What would I get from it?"_

 _Ferid chuckled. Namanari. Cold and calculating. They would offer up themselves, blood, body, and soul, if it meant gaining something important in exchange. "Then~ let me tell you a little secret about this drug. This is the very same drug Guren uses to restrain his demon. And I this one from him."_

 _Yu harshly grabbed Ferid's arm, the one with the syringe. "So you know about Guren! Tell me what you know or I'll beat it out of you!"_

 _Ferid snorted. "One secret at a time, little Yu!" He bit Yu's neck and injected the contents of the syringe into Yu._

 _Mika could see the blood running down. Then he remembered something Krul told him about dealing with stronger opponents and kicked an unsuspecting Crowley in his balls. Mika was at Yu's side when Ferid let go of him and caught his brother. The horns and curse marks were gone and Mika held her brother tightly in his arms._

 _He seethed with rage. "I'll never forgive you, Ferid," he spat. "I won't let you make him into a pawn in your despicable plan."_

 _"Mika, Mika." Ferid shook his head. "I just saved your brother's life. And, why do you think it's my plan anyway? Poor little Mika. We should have played 'Risk' together." Suddenly his voice lost its annoying teasing lilt. "This is no one's plan, child. Someone started meddling with the fate of this world and everyone died." Then he laughed. "That's the truth about the experiment called 'Owari no Seraph - The seraph of the end'." Ferid threw the syringe into a trash bin. "And now we need a car. I'll take you to the place where the experiments were conducted."_

 _Shinoa walked up to the men and placed herself between the Hyakuyas and the vampire. "And why should we go there?"_

 _"Hmm, because, my little friend, the information you want is there."_

 _"And why should we believe you that you are going to take us there instead of selling us out to your vampire comrades?" Narumi asked pointing his trident at Ferid._

 _Ferid looked taken aback, but he was just acting. "Oh my. Haven't we just agreed on a truce and sharing our information? Just between us, Makoto Narumi, you can't trust me, but you have no choice."_

 _Shinoa looked at Narumi with narrowed eyes. "He is right. We have no choice right now."_

 _"That is not acceptable," Narumi said. "This guy has done nothing that would make him trustworthy, on the contrary!"_

 _Shinoa's voice cut through the air sharp like a knife. "Then if you can't trust him, you'll have to trust in me, your leader. We will follow him for now and see what he has to say. That is an order!"_

 _Yoichi swallowed. He'd never seen Shinoa this serious before and he felt like if Narumi didn't step down a fight would break out. He himself wasn't a fan of trusting this silver haired vampire either, but they needed more information. Narumi finally lowered his weapon and Yoichi breathed a sigh of relief. "Everyone," he called out, his voice still a bit shaky. "I found a bus."_

 _"Wow," Ferid called out and sped over to the vehicle._

 _Yoichi felt a cold shiver run down his spine as the vampire passed him far too close for his liking. Didn't someone once say that the seventh progenitor Ferid Bathory liked small children? Yoichi wasn't oblivious to the opinions of other people and he knew that most of them found him cute. Maybe he should take care to always be with someone. Just in case._

 _"Crowley! Try to hotwire that bus please!" The vampire clapped his hands and smiled like a little kid on Christmas._

 _Crowley silently got to work and examined the engine. "Get comfortable. This will take a while."_

* * *

 _The shadows were already growing longer when Ferid started to bother his partner. "Crowley~! What's taking you so long? I thought you were better at working with machines."_

 _Crowley didn't even look at him. "It's not like one of your classical cars, you know? But …" He connected two wires and the bus sprang into life. "I'm done."_

 _Ferid turned to the waiting teenagers. "Sorry for the wait you guys! But the bus is now moving so get a move on and get in!"_

 _None of the teenagers seemed to be very enthusiastic about getting on the same vehicle as that Ferid, but they didn't have a choice. Also having Ferid and Crowley drive meant that they would arrive at their destination much earlier than if they were travelling by themselves._

 _They took the seats farthest away from Ferid. Yu still hadn't woken up and was soundly asleep with his head on Mika's shoulder. Crowley was driving. He was a good driver even better than Kimizuki or Narumi. 'Maybe he had been a chauffeur before he was turned into a vampire,' the humans thought._

 _Ferid looked at the group gleefully. "This is so much fun! It's like were going on a picnic or a road trip. Papa is driving us, Mama packed the lunchboxes, and one of our adorable children is sleeping like an angel."_

 _"I hope he doesn't mean us when he said 'lunchboxes'," Kimizuki murmured._

 _Mitsuba was hugging herself. "Was getting on this bus really a good idea? This guy gives me the creeps."_

 _Shinoa put a hand on her friend's shoulder. "We had no choice," she said with conviction in her voice. "We need the drug for Yu and we need the information he has about the 'Seraph of the End'."_

 _"You guys are so naïve," Mika said. He sounded slightly disgusted, but they couldn't tell if he didn't like what they were currently doing (which he certainly didn't) or if he was thinking about the time Ferid had played him. "We are already a part of his game. He knew that we couldn't resist his offer."_

 _"Is that guy that smart?" Narumi inquired._

 _Mika nodded slightly. "He is. But he is also an abnormal person. You never know what he is thinking about."_

 _Ferid approached them. Even in a moving vehicle on a bumpy road he was still flawlessly keeping his balance. "Now you are a subordinate of Guren Ichinose's right?" He asked Narumi._

 _The older soldier widened his eyes. "How did you know that?"_

 _"I told you," Mika muttered. "Don't bother listening to him. There is no way to tell if he's speaking the truth."_

 _"Oh now you've wounded me Mika! I try to be as honest as possible. How about I save the explanations for when Yu wakes up. It should be soon anyway. Five, four, three," he started counting down. Exactly when he said 'Now', Yu opened his eyes._

 _"Yu!" "Yuichiro!"_

 _Kimizuki looked at Ferid from the corner of his eyes. The vampire was smiling. How did he know when Yu would wake up and how did he keep track of time without a clock? "He is hard to deal with," he hissed under his breath._

 _"I'm sorry for going on a rampage everyone," Yu apologized._

 _Shinoa waved her hand. "Don't worry about it! I guess we would have done the same in your place." She felt two hands on her shoulder and when the person spoke a chill ran down her spine and Shinoa wrenched herself free from Ferid's grasp. The vampire didn't react to the girl's actions. "Good morning Yu! So? How do you feel?"_

 _"The medicine works," Yu coldly replied._

 _Ferid laughed. "And where is my 'Thank you'?"_

 _"That will depend on your story. How are you involved with Guren and what do the two of you want with the 'Owari no Seraph'?"_

 _"Patience dear! Tomorrow we'll meet up with Guren and I'll answer all your questions. Until then just relax! Ah, by the by, do you want to make a toilet break?"_

* * *

 _"Why are they taking so long? It can't be that hard to empty your body," Ferid sighed. If they were late then the other progenitors would be very displeased._

 _"Maybe they are trying to figure out how to escape from the perverted kidnapping," Crowley suggested._

 _Ferid sighed. It would be troublesome if those kids started running again but he hadn't heard anything, so he believed that they were still inside. If they did not come out in ten minutes he would go and take a look. "Really? Personally I don't think you're that perverted. I've met worse people."_

 _Crowley gave him a lopsided smile. "Like yourself?"_

 _"Whaaat? I'm just a harmless weak vampire!"_

 _"Sure, sure."_

 _"I'm bored Crowley! Let's play 'word chain'! I start with 'Apple'. Now say something beginning with 'e'!"_

 _"I don't want to."_

 _"But I'm so bored!"_

 _Crowley narrowed his eyes at his partner. "Then would you fill me in about where we actually are going to? I don't believe that we are going to the place where the experiments took place."_

 _"Right you are! Bravo! Ten points for Crowley!" Ferid applauded._

 _"So you lied to them. That doesn't really surprise me. Where are we really going to?"_

 _"The Osaka bay. We are going to meet up with Guren there."_

 _Crowley let his brain process what Ferid just said. The he shook his head. "I don't get it. You promised them that we would go to the place where the experiments were conducted and that they were going to meet Guren Ichinose. And now you say that you'll just let them meet Guren somewhere else? I don't understand what you are getting at."_

 _Ferid cocked his head. "Will it become clearer when I tell you that we are going to meet some progenitors before we see Guren?"_

 _"Not really."_

 _Ferid laughed again. "Well, I guess you'll just have to trust me that everything will go according to my plan."_


End file.
